SKETCHES 



Army Life in Russia 



m " v 

Ff V. GREENE 

Lieutenant of Engineers, U. S. Army 

LATE MILITARY ATTACHE TO THE U. S. LEGATION IN ST. PETERSBURG AND AUTHOR 
OF "THE RUSSIAN ARMY AND ITS CAMPAIGNS IN TURKEY IN 1877-78." 




NEW YORK Q 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
743 and 745 Broadway 
1880 



It 



2 





6* 



73 



Copyright 
1880 

By Charles Scribner's Sons 



press of J. j. Little & co., 

NOS. CO TO 20 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. 



PREFACE. 



A YEAR ago, in "The Russian Army and its 
Campaigns in Turkey in 1877-78," I endeavored to 
explain to military readers the organization of the 
Russian army, to narrate the events of the war I 
had been sent to observe, and to state certain pro- 
fessional conclusions which that war justified. 

In the following pages I have attempted to give 
a few sketches, which, crude and imperfect as they 
are, may yet serve to give some idea of the soul 
which animates the Russian military machine, and 
tell what manner of man the Russian soldier is, and 
how he lives and moves and has his being. 

To analyse the characteristics of a large body of 
men is always a difficult matter, and, moreover, in 
writing publicly of a people from whom the greatest 
kindness and hospitality have been received, one 
runs the risk either of offending those who have 
bestowed this kindness, by giving too great promi- 
nence to unpleasant truths, or else of being false to 
the public which is addressed, by stating only the 



iv 



Preface. 



virtues of the people described. I have certainly 
had no intention of limiting myself to the latter, 
and I hope I have not been indiscreet in stating 
the former. Should these sketches ever come to 
the notice of those who treated me as one of them- 
selves during the campaign in Turkey, I feel sure 
they will see that whatever I have written in crit- 
icism of their countrymen is wholly free from malice, 
and is only what I have often said to them and they 
to me in friendly conversation ; and they need have 
no fear of having it made public. If I have not 
shown the Russian soldier to be above all manly, 
generous, and warm-hearted, then I have certainly 
failed to transcribe the picture of him which re- 
mains in my own mind, and have done injustice to 
a people whose hospitality to individual Americans 
is no less conspicuous than their unvarying friend- 
ship for the United States as a nation. 

F. V. G. 

Washington, June, 1880. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Tsar I 

II. The Russian Soldier 16 

III. Shipka Pass 36 

IV. Plevna 53 

V. The Winter Campaign 88 

VI. Russian Generals 126 

VII. War Correspondents 152 

VIII. Constantinople 168 

IX. St. Petersburg 205 

X. The Eastern Question 251 



SKETCHES 

OF 

Army Life in Russia. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE TSAR. 

In attempting to give any description of the 
characteristics of the Russian Army, one naturally 
begins with the Tsar, who is at once the head and 
the object of the whole organization. It is in Rus- 
sia alone, of all civilized countries, that at this day 
we find the idea of personal allegiance existing in its 
primitive purity, undisturbed by the tendencies of 
modern representative government. This personal 
allegiance is the corner-stone of the whole fabric 
of society in Russia, and it has been strengthened 
rather than weakened by the changes which have 
taken place in the development of the country 
since the time of Peter the Great. In other coun- 
tries the soldier fights for his country, for the idea 
that is so clearly crystallized in the German motto 
" Fur Gott und Vaterland ; " but the Russian sol- 



2 



Army Life in Russia. 



dier fights for God and the Tsar. To his mind the 
Tsar is specially appointed by God as his Viceroy 
to govern that large portion of the earth called 
Russia, and devotion to the Tsa'r includes all that 
we understand in the word patriotism. 

I arrived at the little Bulgarian village of Biela, 
where the Emperor was then quartered, on the 
afternoon of August 5, 1877. Winding my way 
through the crooked little streets I inquired for the 
Emperor's headquarters, and finally reached a court- 
yard surrounded by a fence in front of whose en- 
trance two sentinels were pacing. I addressed an 
officer in the yard whom I supposed to be the aide- 
de-camp on duty, stating my name and position, 
and asking him to send my card in to the Minister 
of War. He politely invited me to enter the yard, 
took my card, and quickly returned to say that the 
minister would be out in a few minutes, and would 
present me to the Emperor before dinner which was 
about to be served. I was covered with the dust 
of a ride of twenty-four consecutive hours across 
the parched plains of Roumania in a telega,* and I 
was somewhat appalled at the idea of being pre- 
sented in such a condition ; but, on asking if it were 
not possible for me to wash my hands and face, I 
was assured with a good-natured laugh that there 



* A small Russian postchaise on four wheels without springs. 



The Tsar. 



3 



would not be time, but I need give myself no un- 
easiness as it was a daily occurrence for some aide- 
de-camp or other officer to arrive covered with dirt 
just at dinner time. Wiping off a part of the dust 
from my face with a handkerchief, I looked about 
the place where the Emperor of Russia was quar- 
tered. It was a plain little courtyard, about a hun- 
dred feet across, on one side of which was a small 
one-story house built partly of wood and partly of 
mud, in which the Minister of* War and his office 
were quartered. Opposite this was an immense 
tent, formed of three hospital tents joined end to 
end, in which were tables set for dinner. At one 
side, partly concealed by a little hedge, were two 
ordinary officers' tents in which the Emperor lived. 
In the courtyard, officers of various ranks, ministers, 
generals, aide-de-camps, officers of the escort, etc., 
were beginning to assemble. I was introduced to a 
number of them, and presently to the Minister of 
War, with whom I was talking when the Emperor 
appeared. Every one stopped, faced in the direc- 
tion of the Emperor's tents, cracked his heels to- 
gether, and carried his hands to his cap to salute. 
The Emperor was dressed in an ordinary general's 
undress uniform without the sword. He walked 
slowly, coming from behind the hedge in front of 
his tents, stopped to say something to the men com- 
posing the band of music, who replied with a simul- 



4 



Army Life in Russia. 



taneous shout, and then came among the officers, 
bowing in return to their salutes and extending his 
hand to some of them, who acknowledged the favor 
by loyally kissing his shoulder. I was immediately 
taken up by the Minister of War and presented. 
The Emperor asked a few questions concerning my 
journey, etc., and then motioned to dinner. In ac- 
cordance with the invariable Russian custom, there 
was a side table containing Vodka and other bran- 
dies and whiskies, cheese, caviare, small fishes fried 
in oil, and other appetizers. After partaking of this 
preliminary meal, known as " zakooska," we went 
into the dining tent where there were two long 
tables containing about eighty places. The Em- 
peror sat at the middle of one of these ; on his 
right a white-headed veteran, General Suwaroff, 
Prince Italiisky, grandson of the famous one whose 
deeds at Ismail are familiar to all readers of Byron ; 
on his left General Milutin, Minister of War, and 
on either side of them other generals in the order of 
their rank. Opposite the Emperor sat General Von 
Werder, Military Agent of Germany, and on either 
side of him a Roumanian officer just arrived, and 
myself — the only three foreign officers present — 
and beyond us other Russian officers. As we sat 
down the band struck up an air outside the tent, 
and continued playing at intervals throughout the 
dinner. The service was of silver, the cups lined 



The Tsar. 



5 



with gold, and each piece bore the imperial cipher 
and the letter N. It evidently was not new, and 
had in fact seen service in the war of 1828 with 
the Emperor Nicholas. The servants wore the 
crown livery of dark blue coats, bordered with 
gold fringe, covered with double-headed eagles 
embroidered in black silk, but otherwise the sur- 
roundings of the table were of the plainest. The 
dinner was simple, soup, joint, entree, compote and 
coffee, and a small allowance of the light wines of 
France and Germany. Conversation was general 
and unrestrained, principally concerning the inci- 
dents of Gourko's first passage of the Balkans from 
which one or two aides had just returned. Just 
after the compote (preserved peaches or some other 
fruit) was finished there seemed to be a silence* 
when the Emperor said something in Russian and 
the whole company responded with one loud simul- 
taneous shout. I looked up startled and saw the 
Emperor staring at me and laughing very heartily 
at my confusion. He explained that it was the 
signal for smoking, and that I must learn to answer 
with the others. The words were Vweenemai pah-h-h- 
to which every one answered tronn ; vweenemai 
patronn being the Russian command " Take cart- 
ridges." After this little pleasantry every one 
produced from his pocket his silver cigarette case, 
lighted a cigarette, and smoked, and sipped his 



6 



Army Life in Russia. 



coffee. Candles were then lighted, and a large 
package was brought and placed before a gray- 
headed old courtier, Count Adlerberg, the Minister 
of the Court, who immediately began reading the 
comments of the various newspapers of London, 
Paris, Berlin and Vienna upon the progress of the 
war. These were articles which had been carefully 
selected by an official of the Foreign office present 
at headquarters, from the files of papers brought the 
previous day by a courier. They had all been trans- 
lated into French, and were read off in a monotonous 
tone. Occasionally there was an interjection at 
some opinion favorable or unfavorable to the Rus- 
sian cause, and a slight discussion at the termination 
of some of the articles, but most of them were re- 
ceived in silence though listened to with attention. 

It seemed to me, fresh from the bustling rough 
and ready world of America, where people read 
their own newspapers, a strange scene. 

The autocratic ruler of eighty-seven millions of 
people, scattered over a territory comprising one- 
fifth of the inhabited portion of the entire surface 
of the earth, sitting here in a tent in a rude village 
of a foreign land, whither he had come to free his 
fellow christians from the yoke of bondage to their 
hereditary enemies, surrounded by his ministers and 
generals, and listening to the news from the outside 
world and the opinions formed in the editorial 



The Tsar. 



7 



rooms of newspaper offices ! We had news from 
England, then from Austria, from Germany, from 
France. I almost wondered whether I was really in 
the midst of the every-day bustling life of the 19th 
century, or whether I was not assisting at some 
slightly varied rehearsal of one of Shakspeare's 
plays, so thoroughly medieval did the scene appear 
to me. After the news had all been read there was 
a little conversation, and then the Emperor rose to 
leave the table. Every one stood up to salute him, 
and he passed along saying a word or two to this 
or that person. As he passed me he stopped and 
said he supposed I wished to join the army and see 
the active operations. I replied that such was my 
desire, with his permission. He then said with a 
certain emphasis that his brother had the entire com- 
mand of the army, he himself being only a spectator ; 
that his brother was expected here in a few days, and 
that I could then make arrangements to return with 
him to the army headquarters proper. 

After the Emperor passed out the officers grad- 
ually dispersed to their tents or quarters. I found 
that my baggage had been directed to a deserted 
Turkish house, a few hundred yards off, and installed 
there, and I was informed by the aide-de-camp on 
duty that by the Emperor's invitation I would be 
expected at his table so long as I remained at his 
headquarters, and that coffee was served at eight in 



8 



Army Life in Russia. 



the morning, breakfast at noon, dinner at six, and a 
cup of tea for those who desired it, at nine in the 
evening. 

The dinner was the principal gathering of the day 
at the Emperor's headquarters, and varied but little 
from that just described, except that the reading of 
newspaper articles only took place on the days fol- 
lowing the arrival of a courier. The Emperor ordi- 
narily rose between seven and eight in the morning, 
took coffee in his own tent, and was busily engaged 
with his ministers until noon, when he came to 
breakfast with his suite ; this meal was short, and 
he then went out for a drive in an open barouche 
with one of his family, if any were present, if not, 
with Prince Suwarof or some other general; in his 
drive he always included a visit to the hospitals, if 
any were near, or to some of the troops ; returning 
to his tent, he devoted three or four hours to work, 
then dined, and after dinner, if before sunset, took 
a short walk, and then retired to his tent, where 
none but the most intimate of his followers were 
admitted. His life varied but little from this 
throughout the whole campaign. He was with the 
army at Kishineff at the time of the declaration of 
war, April 24th, but returned to St. Petersburg a 
week later. A month afterward, however, he came 
back to the army again, reaching Ploiesti, in Rou- 
mania, on the 8th of May. For the next seven 



The Tsar. 



9 



months — until after Plevna had fallen on December 
loth — he remained continually with the army, not 
commanding it, though he was advised as to all its 
affairs, but sharing in more than the proportion of 
a sovereign its hardships and dangers, animating it 
by his presence, and extending to those who reaped 
its misfortunes in wounds and sickness his sym- 
pathy and his aid. 

The Minister of War, the Minister of the Court, 
and the Chief of the " Third Section," or Secret Po- 
lice, were always with him. Prince Gortschakoff's 
age prevented him from coming to camp, but he 
established himself at Bucharest, the nearest town. 
Communication with St. Petersburg was kept up 
by incessant telegraphing and by means of special 
couriers leaving each place three times per week, 
and, traveling without rest by rail and post, accom- 
plishing the journey in four to five days. 

During the greater part of the time the Emperor 
was in the possession of good health, although 
suffering at times from bilious fevers, particularly 
during the autumn rains. His headquarters were 
shifted from one village to another, to be as near as 
possible to" the most important operations of the 
troops. During the summer he lived with compar- 
ative comfort in a tent, but as the cold autumnal 
rains came on he was forced to seek such shelter as 
the miserable huts of the villages afforded. His 



10 



Army Life in Russia. 



manner was always the same — dignified, courteous, 
and apparently calm ; yet even a casual observer 
could detect the weight of care and responsibility 
which seemed to rest so heavily upon him. The 
expression of his face grew still sadder as the sum- 
mer and autumn wore on and Plevna held fast, and 
he gradually lost flesh — more than thirty pounds — 
giving him a gaunt look. Only once he broke 
down, and, as I was told, could not restrain his 
tears as the list of killed in his guard at the battle 
of Gorni-Dubnik was read out to him — every name 
being as familiar to him as his own, and comprising 
those who had grown up about him from boyhood. 
Just after this battle he rode over one Sunday to 
thank the troops who had taken part in it. I was 
then at General Gourko's headquarters, who com- 
manded these troops, and rode out with him to 
meet the Emperor and his suite. They arrived 
about noon — the more important officers in car- 
riages, and the others and the escort of cossacks on 
horseback. Leaving his carriage and mounting his 
horse the Emperor rode forward, followed by his 
suite, toward the men who were drawn up for 
parade. As he rode down the lines, saluting the 
men with " Good morning," and they answering 
back in long shouts — stopping now and then to 
talk with some of the officers or distribute crosses 
to the men — the men followed him with eyes 



The Tsar. 



1 1 



stretched to their utmost, and with awe and ven- 
eration depicted on their faces. Studying their 
intent expressions one got some insight into the 
thoughts of these simple-minded, faithful creatures, 
and saw that it still was possible in this sceptical 
age for men to look up to another man with per- 
sonal adoration. The enthusiasm was not forced — 
nowhere was there an indifferent face — every man 
fastened his eyes on the Emperor, and kept them 
there so long as he was near him. For a moment 
they seemed to forget every one else but the Tsar 
who actually was before them in the flesh. Their 
expression was not so much one of joy as of absent- 
minded, wondering veneration. I have never seen 
a similar look on men's faces elsewhere, and at 
other reviews of the same troops by generals or 
princes the same sort of ceremony was gone 
through, but the men never had the same thoughts 
written on their faces as they had when they saw 
the Tsar. 

After the troops had all been visited an open air 
mass was held. One division of about ten thou- 
sand men was drawn up on the plain west of Plevna, 
and about two miles from the high range of hills 
on which the Turkish batteries stood ; the division 
was formed on three sides of a square, with a few 
squadrons of cavalry on each flank. In the centre 
stood the Emperor, alone and bareheaded, slightly 



12 



Army Life in Russia. 



in advance of his suite; in front of him was the 
priest in gorgeous robes, with a golden crucifix and 
the Bible laid on a pile of drums which answered 
for an altar; a short distance to one side was a 
choir consisting of twenty or thirty soldiers, with 
fine musical voices. Every one uncovered his head, 
and the service began in that slow, sad chant which 
is peculiar to the Greek church ; at the name of 
Jesus every one of the vast crowd crossed himself. 
On the opposite hills, as the service went on, could 
be seen large numbers of Turks congregating in 
wonder at the assembly of this large number of men. 
Finally came the prayer for the repose of those 
who had died in the battle a few days before ; the 
Emperor knelt on the ground, resting his head on 
the hilt of his sword, every one followed his exam- 
ple, and the whole division knelt there with their 
guns in one hand, crossing themselves with the 
other, and following in a subdued voice the words 
of the chant. 

Nothing could give a clearer perception of the 
relations between the Tsar and his men than this 
strangely impressive scene ; the Gosudar Imperator 
(Our Lord the Emperor), surrounded by his people, 
with arms in their hands, facing their hereditary 
enemies in religion and politics, and chanting in 
slow monotone, whose periods were marked by the 
booming of distant cannon, the requiem for their 



The Tsar. 



13 



dead comrades. The Russian people have no fewer 
daily sins to answer for than other people, but the 
feeling which binds the lower classes to their Tsar 
is one of purely religious enthusiasm and veneration, 
which finds no counterpart elsewhere in these latter 
days. The west of Europe and America have suc- 
ceeded, without substituting anything better for it, 
in destroying that faith which constitutes the poe- 
try of the Christian religion ; in Russia, on the other 
hand, we find only primitive faith — or else nihil- 
ism — among the middle and lower classes ; modern 
scepticism, which discards religion but respects good 
government and morals, has taken no root among 
them. With them the divine right of kings is still 
a living principle. 

It would be idle to pretend that the upper 
classes, which travel widely, speak many languages, 
habituate Paris, and lose their distinctive national 
traits in cosmopolitan intercourse, have much of 
the reality of this religious feeling ; they attend the 
church services with great regularity, and make the 
sign of the cross at the proper moments ; but they 
do it in a perfunctory way, and with many signs of 
weariness on their faces. But to the class from 
which the soldiers come, the religion of miracles 
and ceremonies which they are taught, is the most 
real thing of their lives, and on earth it all centers 
in the Tsar. 



Army Life in Russia. 



No one who saw the Emperor at any time during 
these long months that he remained with the army 
could doubt his honesty, or his firm conviction of 
right in the cause he had espoused. He is a man 
who lacks the iron will and energy of his great pro- 
genitor Peter, or even of his own father Nicholas, 
but he is endowed with a greatness and tenderness 
of heart which few autocratic rulers have possessed ; 
he began his reign with an act of justice (in freeing 
the serfs) the greatness of which as the individual 
act of one man is equalled but by one other — the 
emancipation by Abraham Lincoln — in our times ; 
he is closing it by another act of justice only less 
great — the effort to free his co-religionists from the 
intolerable oppression of the Turk. No more gen- 
erous or holy crusade was ever undertaken on the 
part of a strong race to befriend a weak one. So 
all true Russians believe ; so even a sceptical for- 
eigner is forced to admit after seeing and appreciat- 
ing the sacrifices which the effort entails, the enthu- 
siasm with which these sacrifices are endured, and 
the small returns which it brings in material benefits. 
The strong sense of right is his only support ; no 
mere ambition could suffice to sustain him in the 
terrible trials and responsibilities which his acts have 
brought upon him. The reorganization of the 
landed system and of the administration of jus- 
tice, and the other radical reforms of the early part 



The Tsar. 



15 



of his reign, called forth the opposition of the nobles 
to such an extent as nearly to cost him his throne ; 
and while this opposition is hardly yet dead, these 
very reforms have given rise to the most chimerical 
aspirations and the most bitter disappointments ; to- 
day in his later years (he is the longest-lived by two 
years of all his race) his life is in constant danger 
from those on whom he has conferred such great 
benefits, while his efforts in behalf of the Bulgarians 
have excited the suspicion, jealousy and hatred of 
half the nations of Europe. Weighed down with 
the deepest sense of the responsibility of his acts, 
keenly alive to the ingratitude of a portion of his 
own people, and to the taunts and suspicions of 
foreigners, his only consolation must be in his pro- 
found conviction of right, and his belief that the 
God of Justice is on his side and will not let his 
labors go for naught, but will in His own good time 
give peace to his own people, and happiness to 
those of his own creed whom he has striven to 
befriend. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE RUSSIAN SOLDIER. 

The peasant class — or moozhiks — which supplies 
the great body of Russian soldiers, ever ready to 
do battle for God and the Tsar, leads a hard life. 
The peasant is born in a little village composed of 
several hundred log huts of one story each and 
thatched with straw, containing but one room in 
which a family of five or six persons live, eat, and 
sleep, and a large part of whose space is occupied 
by an enormous flat stove, on top of which most of 
the family pass the winter's nights. The only build- 
ing in the village which has any pretence to good 
appearance — the only one which to a person passing 
in a railway train in winter denotes the existence of 
a village at all — is the village church, a large white 
structure with bright green roof and gilded cupolas ; 
within it is a mass of pictures, heavily gilded and 
bejewelled altar-pieces, and swinging censers — an 
interior "calculated to overawe the imagination by 
contrast with the poverty of view of the rest of the 
village. The surrounding country is a rolling plain 

unbroken in any direction by peak or mountain and 

16 



The Russian Soldier. 



1/ 



usually destitute of trees, wrapped in an endless 
mantle of snow for half the year, and bright with 
green grass or yellow wheat for the other half. The 
railroads are few in number and invariably leave the 
villages several miles on either side ; the post roads 
are equally few and the post infrequent. There is 
no bustling activity in the villages, nor are there 
striking features in the landscape to develop the 
imagination or engender habits of daring or self-re- 
liance. Everything is on a dead level, benumbing 
the senses ; the sky during the greater part of the 
year is of a dull leaden color, and seems to bear 
upon the spirits with all the weight of lead. 

In this depressing atmosphere the peasant grows 
up, attending schools in the winter months, doing 
his share of the farming of the commune during the 
summer, listening to superstitious tales in the win- 
ter's evenings, imbibing a religion of forms and 
ceremonies, miracles and superstitions, and know- 
ing little of the outside world except that he lives 
in a land governed by a ruler of unlimited great- 
ness called the Tsar. On attaining the age of 
twenty, his name is placed in the urn to be drawn 
for military service, and if the lot falls upon him, he 
leaves his village and is but little heard of for the 
next six years ; at the end of this period (if no war 
is on hand) he returns to his village on permanent 
furlough for the remaining nine years of his mili- 



18 



Army Life in Russia. 



tary service, but liable to be called up at any mo- 
ment to rejoin his regiment. At the age of thirty- 
five his military service is over, he receives his share 
of the commune's property to work, marries, builds 
himself a hut like the others, breeds a family, works 
through his life, and dies. 

His disposition, character, and habits are deter- 
mined by these dull, sombre surroundings, a cheer- 
less climate, monotonous village life, and a super- 
stitious religion. He is sallow in complexion, lank 
in figure, has straight yellow hair, and a heavy ex- 
pression of face ; he wears high boots at all seasons 
of the year, and dark cloth trowsers tucked into 
them ; above this, in summer, a bright red shirt 
worn outside his trowsers and gathered in at the 
waist by a belt ; on his head a slouchy cap with a 
peaked visor. In winter, he is wrapped, both day 
and night, in a long " shuba " or pelisse, of sheep 
skin, with the wool on the inside, reaching from his 
neck to his heels, and his head is enveloped in a 
woolen " bashlik " or muffler. 

His personal habits are to a certain extent clean- 
ly, since they include a steam bath once a week, 
but, on the other hand, the bath by no means 
involves a change of linen, and his greasy sheep- 
skin pelisse is worn half a lifetime. The sanitary 
condition of his village is at once primitive and 
filthy, and but for the cold winters would gener- 



The Russian Soldier. 



19 



ate diseases which would depopulate whole dis- 
tricts. 

His diet is as monotonous as his life ; once a 
week, or twice at the most, he has meat, fresh beef 
or mutton, made into a soup or a stew. Of vege- 
tables he has a variety, but cares little for any 
of them except cabbage and onions. His great 
staple article of food is a gruel made of unbolted 
buckwheat, called " kahsha" his taste for which 
never diminishes. With this and an abundance of 
heavy black bread, and an occasional taste of fish 
or meat, he is abundantly satisfied. His disposition 
is gentle and good-natured, even his brawls being 
of the maudlin and foolish and not of the fighting 
character ; he is as incapable of taking care of him- 
self as a child ; all his important actions are deter- 
mined for him by the village commune, whose open- 
air meetings are full of noisy arguments, but from 
whose decision no appeal is ever thought of. The 
whole nature of his communistic village life pre- 
cludes the idea of striking out on his own respon- 
sibility to make himself independent in fortune ; 
he has the benefit of his own labor on the land al- 
lotted to him, but otherwise his individuality is 
completely destroyed. He is very gregarious, fond 
of singing and of reciting or listening to long stories, 
and with all his sombreness of character, he has a 
latent fund of mirth and humor peculiarly his own. 



20 



Army Life in Russia. 



He leads a sober, temperate life for months, but 
celebrates the great religious festivals, such as 
Christmas and Easter, by a prolonged drunk, un- 
dertaken apparently to relieve the monotony of his 
existence, and infuse some ray of cheerfulness or at 
least of excitement into his unvaried life. The 
liquor is the native vodka, a pure rye brandy, which 
does him but little harm, and when the celebrating 
is over he returns contentedly to his work. 

I do not know of anything which so pithily illus- 
trates the submissiveness and dependence of the 
character of the Russian peasant as the following 
anecdote, related by Leroy-Beaulieu in a recent 
number of the Revue des Deux Mondes, and which 
I reproduce in full. 

A satirical novelette, called " Two Generals on an 
Island," was read to some peasants one evening by 
the village schoolmaster. A synopsis of the story 
was as follows : " Two generals awake on a desert 
island ; they know not what is to become of them, 
when suddenly they perceive a moozhik asleep. 
' Come on, you lazy fellow,' they cry to him, ' what 
are you doing lying there? Jump up and get us 
some dinner.' The peasant obeys, catches a hare, 
cooks it and serves it for dinner. ' Well,' say the 
generals, ' there is no house here. Are we going to 
live in the open air like savages ? Come, you idiot 
(doorak), make us a house,' and the peasant takes 



The Russian Soldier. 



21 



his axe and makes them a wooden house. Al- 
though lodged and fed the generals tire of this 
isolated life. ' Well-bred people cannot live like 
this on a desert island. Come, you loafer, take 
your axe and make us a boat.' The peasant, al- 
ways scolded and beaten, makes a boat, and, taking 
the oars, rows the two generals back to St. Peters- 
burg, where they give him a rouble for his pains." 

Beaulieu continues: "The schoolmaster was asked 
what did the peasants say of this story. 'They 
laughed a great deal, and were greatly flattered 
that generals should have need of one of their 
like ; it made them very proud.' That was all the 
impression that the story made upon them." 

The character thus formed by his village life and 
surroundings the peasant carries with him into the 
army, there to be slightly modified by his new career. 

The first thing he learns is unquestioning obe- 
dience and respect to his superiors. He never 
meets or addresses an officer without standing at 
" attention," with his hand at his cap through the 
whole conversation, and until the officer has passed. 
He does not even answer a question with a direct 
" Yes, sir," or " No, sir," but with " Quite so " (Tak 
t'otchen), or " Not exactly so " (ne kak nyet). He al- 
ways addresses an officer by his title, " Your Excel- 
lency " for generals, " Your Illustriousness " for 
princes and counts, " Your High Nobility " for 



22 



Army Life in Russia. 



field officers, " Your Nobility " for company offi- 
cers (all officers of the Russian army belong ex- 
officio to the nobility). Would that the officers 
always requited this never-failing respect with the 
courtesy which should be its never-failing comple- 
ment ; but, unfortunately, it is not so. There is a 
strong trace of that meanness which a division into 
insuperable classes often engenders, and which leads 
every class to kick the one just below it. I have 
only too often heard officers, particularly of the 
lower grades, call a soldier on slight provocation a 
fool, an idiot, a dog, a pig, and follow it up with 
blows. I have even seen the first sergeant knocked 
down and cursed by one of the company officers in 
front of the whole company in line, for some slight 
misunderstanding of his instructions. Such cases 
are, of course, rare exceptions, but one of them 
leaves an impression on the memory not easily 
eradicated ; and the deed is all the more flagrant 
because an instance of a soldier striking his officer 
is, so far as I know, wholly unheard of. 

Yet in spite of this humility in outward forms, it 
cannot be said that the soldier degenerates into 
being servile. Side by side with this unbending 
discipline, there exists a peculiar feeling of good- 
fellowship and mutual dependence between the 
officers and men. The men are jovial and good- 
natured among themselves, and have their own 



The Russian Soldier, 



23 



glee songs and dances, in which the officers are 
daily -spectators. They freely discuss the move- 
ments of the campaign, and try to reason out — 
often arriving at a very just appreciation — the 
causes and effects of their marches and battles. 
The officers, when in good humor, are always offer- 
ing some banter or jest, and receiving in turn quite 
as good as they give — the answers being never dis- 
respectful, but often framed with very great clever- 
ness and wit, and so aptly pointed as to bring down 
shouts of laughter from the men at the officer's 
expense. As a specimen of this sort of humorous 
banter, I may cite the following incident. I was in 
the habit of passing from one portion of the army 
to another, accompanied only by a Russian dra- 
goon, who had been detailed to me as an orderly. 
One night we stopped with some troops bivouacked 
in a village, and the officer with whom I lodged 
asked me how I managed to make myself under- 
stood. " Oh ! " I replied, " I know a few Russian 
words and phrases — enough to pick my way about." 
The officer then turned to the dragoon and asked 
him how he managed to understand me. The 
dragoon put his head on one side, with the air of a 
modest school-boy possessed of great knowledge, 
and answered, " Nemnoshko gavarioii pa Amerikan- 
sky " (Oh ! I speak a little American) ! ! 

Whenever a commanding officer — captain, col- 



2 4 



Army Life in Russia. 



onel, general, field-marshal, or emperor — meets the 
troops under his own command for the first time 
during the day, his first act is to wish them " Good 
morning" {Zdarova, Kazansky, Uralsky, or whatever 
be the name of the regiment), to which the men 
reply with one long rolling shout, Zdravie zhe- 
laiem, vass imperatorsky vweesochestvoe, " Your good 
health, Your Imperial Majesty (Excellency, or No- 
bility, as the case may be). When a general meets 
some troops under his orders whose regiment he 
cannot at once distinguish, he salutes them with 
"Good morning, brothers!" (Zdarova bratzie.)* 
When a general first meets his troops on the conclu- 
sion of a battle, after wishing them good morning, 
he shouts, " Otsebo vam /" (I thank you,) to which 
the men answer that they are glad to serve him. 

As a soldier, the Russian is most strong in all the 
staying qualities, and weak in the vivacious ones. 

* The origin of this habit of addressing the troops as brothers 
was once told to me as coming from Peter the Great, whose address 
to his troops on the eve of the battle of Pultowa was somewhat as 
follows: "Brothers! Know that in the battle of to-morrow your 
Tsar fights among you, and watches you, but that the life of Peter, 
like your own, is as nothing compared with the welfare of the 
country which we serve in common." I imagine, however, that the 
custom could be traced back still further than that, and is merely 
a peculiarity of the Slav character. I noticed that the Bulgarians 
were constantly in the habit of speaking of themselves or the Rus- 
sians as brothers. 



The Russian Soldier. 



25 



In this he is the exact opposite of the French sol- 
dier; the latter depends on his elan, and the aid 
which his imagination gives to his courage, but 
once his cohesion is lost his imagination only serves 
to destroy his discipline, and turns everything into 
a wild panic. The Russian, on the other hand, has 
none of this sort of elan ; he goes into battle enthu- 
siastically and with lively energy, but not quite vi- 
vaciously ; there is more of a grim solemnity in his 
manner as he marches forward singing lustily the 
national hymn, and thoughtless of his fate. He is 
at first dull and slow in initiative and self-reliance ; 
and it is only after he has passed through several 
battles that he learns by terrible experience the 
knack of looking out for himself — of taking ad- 
vantage of every shelter, of quickly protecting him- 
self by intrenching, and all the other little tricks of 
battle which may save a man's life without impair- 
ing his efficiency or detracting from his courage. 
He instinctively looks for orders, and obeys them 
with a blind instinct, without stopping to question 
their merit ; left to his own resources, he is almost 
helpless, and will often get killed from sheer stu- 
pidity in standing still and waiting for an order 
when every one is dead who has the right to give 
one. But these same qualities, which are so differ- 
ent from those of our own quick-witted volunteers, 
have their good side. The Russian soldier's pa- 



26 



Army Life in Russia. 



tience is boundless ; his endurance, his good-humor 
under hardship, his capacity for fighting on an emp- 
ty stomach and under difficulties, are beyond all 
praise, and will enable a general who appreciates 
these qualities to work wonders with them ; and he 
is probably the steadiest of all soldiers under defeat 
and adversity. Deprived of their officers, a body of 
Russian soldiers may degenerate into a helpless, 
inert mass, and be slaughtered by means of their 
very cohesiveness, but they will never take a panic ; 
their history affords none of those examples in 
which a mass of crazy fugitives fly with a cry of 
" Sauve qui petit" from a danger conjured up by the 
imagination and exaggerated and inflamed by the 
senseless cries of others. 

His faith is simple and childlike ; in the one 
phrase of " God and the Tsar " is summed up 
nearly all his religion and his philosophy of life. 
God will take care of him hereafter and the Tsar 
so long as he lives. When his battles result in de- 
feats, when his biscuits are full of maggots, when 
his clothing is made of shoddy, when his boots drop 
to pieces, he reasons it out slowly, and can only 
come to the conclusion, so pathetic in its simple 
faith, "Ah! if the Tsar only knew!" Every one 
within his reach he freely discusses, criticizes and 
blames ; he half suspects that his generals may be 
fools, and he is sure that his commissaries are ras- 



The Russian Soldier. 



27 



cals, but no thought of censure ever crosses his 
mind against the Tsar. He never for an instant 
doubts that the Tsar is his best friend, and would 
correct all these evils if only he knew of them. But 
alas ! he reasons, the Tsar cannot know everything, 
and so there is no help for him ; he goes on doing 
his duty faithfully, bravely and patiently, hoping 
that at some day and in some way, he knows not 
how, things will go better. 

The regimental and company officers possess 
many of the solid stubborn qualities of the soldiers, 
but in the great mass of the army they are deficient 
in the higher attainments necessary to direct these 
qualities in such a way as to derive the full benefit 
of them. In the regiments of the guard the officers 
are gentlemen of polished address, familiar with the 
life of courts and capitals gained in constant travel 
through Europe, speaking several languages fluently, 
and are possessed of a wide variety of knowledge if 
none of it is profound. In the regiments of the 
line — the great body of the army — this superficial 
elegance and smattering of knowledge is quite lack- 
ing, though it is partly made up by a greater famil- 
iarity with the technical duties of their profession. 
It is no wonder that, in an army requiring over 
25,000 officers, and in a country where education as 
a science has only just begun to flourish, it should be 
difficult to find enough men possessing what we are 



28 



Army Life in Russia. 



accustomed to look upon as the necessary qualifica- 
tions for an officer. The lack of initiative, which 
forms no great demerit among soldiers if their 
officers are equal to every emergency, is a terrible 
defect among the officers themselves. The ready 
grasp of a new problem, the energy and "enter- 
prise " which are so common in America, particularly 
where it is fostered as in the western States by life 
in a new country and habits of independence and 
resource, find no counterpart in Russia ; and hence 
we see their officers when placed in a novel situation 
letting things take their own course, regardless of 
consequences, until they at last learn how to deal 
with it. If 40,000 prisoners are thrown suddenly on 
their hands, as at the surrender of Plevna, no better 
expedient presents itself than to herd them out in 
the snow in great flocks like sheep, and let three 
days pass before they get anything to eat, and 
twelve days before measures are perfected for 
marching them to the Danube, only twenty miles 
off — the prisoners meanwhile perishing by hundreds 
every night. If a bridge forming part of the main 
line of communication of a great army is constructed 
across a large river, one end of it leading into a 
miserable little town with streets so narrow that two 
vehicles can not pass, you do not find the lines of 
opposing travel so clearly marked out that there can 
be no divergence from them, and men stationed at 



The Russian Soldier. 



29 



every corner to compel vehicles to take a certain 
direction, but you see two long lines of small supply 
wagons gradually approaching each other until they 
become jammed and blocked in the middle of the 
town, and several hours and even a day or more are 
occupied in unloading a half a mile of wagons and 
dragging them out backwards in order to re-open 
the communication ; and these are things which do 
not occur only during the first days or weeks but 
throughout a whole campaign of months. 

The essential characteristic of the whole class of 
Russian officials or " Tchinovniks " is their clumsiness, 
joined to a centralization whose multiplicity of re- 
ports and papers defies all belief or comprehension 
and supplemented only too often by the most petty 
tyranny. Instead of straightening things out by 
his own ready wit on his own responsibility, the 
official is either content to let them take their 
course, shrugging his shoulders with an air of laissez- 
faire and satisfied that the responsibility rests not 
with himself but with the official next above him, 
or else wasting the time that should be devoted to 
action in an excited discussion with one of his sub- 
ordinates as to what should be done or how things 
came to be in such a condition. 

Any large army must always represent with very 
considerable fidelity, the nation from which it is 
drawn, and Russia's geographical position, back- 



30 



Army Life in Russia. 



wardness in mechanical invention, and the dense 
ignorance which still in spite of all the efforts 
towards education pervades the peasant class, con- 
stitute difficulties in her way as a military nation 
which it is impossible to overcome by any amount of 
numbers, mutual organization, or bravery. Its only 
remedy lies in time and the advance in civilization. 

At the close of a long conversation about America, 
a Russian officer — an ardent admirer of our country 
like many of his compatriots — said with a sigh, 
" Ah ! my friend, you fortunate people have not the 
middle ages at your back." The middle ages are 
close to Russia, and she finds it hard to separate her- 
self from them. 

Peter the Great was the first Tsar who broke with 
the traditions of the past, and the key of his whole 
system is found in his saying that he built his town 
of St. Petersburg " as a window to let in the light 
of Europe." Many of his successors, with minds 
only less great and wills almost as indomitable as 
his own, have struggled to bring their people for- 
ward, but usually on the same principle as Peter's, 
of introducing and adapting foreign ideas rather 
than of stimulating the development of native ones; 
at one time French ideas have predominated, at 
another time German, and although in the present 
reign the development has been more of a pure 
Russian type, yet at all times the progressive 



The Russian Soldier. 



3i 



reforms have been forced upon the people from 
above downward, instead of springing from their 
own wants and necessities, and spreading upwards. 
In this respect, the progress of Russia has been 
exactly the opposite of our own in America. Start- 
ing from a small but self-thinking and self-depend- 
ent sect in the highest civilization of their day, and 
absolutely rejecting everything in that civilization 
which could not maintain itself as specially adapted 
to our own wants, we have gradually evolved a form 
of national life and habits peculiarly our own, and 
peculiarly adapted to our requirements, and have 
constructed a government which at once gives the 
widest scope to individual action, and the greatest 
average measure of comfort, knowledge, and hap- 
piness to every one, without pre-eminent examples 
of learning, science or art, on the one hand, or of 
pauperism and degradation on the other. 

In Russia, on the contrary, the classes are sep- 
arated by immense gulfs, and above them all is the 
Tsar, attempting the herculean task of dragging 
eighty millions of people forward, rather against 
their will than with their assistance, and in the 
manner which he considers best for them, without 
asking them to think much about it for themselves. 

Among the numerous dissertations incident to 
the recent twenty-fifth anniversary of the present 
Emperor's accession to the throne, the following 



32 



Army Life in Russia. 



appeared in the Golos, one of the most thoroughly 
representative of Russian newspapers, and one 
which, far from being a court journal or govern- 
ment organ, has suffered greatly from the penalties 
inflicted by the censorship. It says: "Strangers 
have trouble in understanding the bond which 
unites the Tsar to Russia ; it comes from the fact 
that our national life has been developed under 
different conditions from those in the west of Eu- 
rope. With us the sovereign is venerated as the 
anointed of the Lord, in the biblical sense of this 
term, and the statute itself takes care to impose on 
all his subjects the obligation ' to obey him not only 
from fear but from a sense of conscientious duty.' 
While in western Europe the Church has often been 
in conflict with the State, with us the orthodox re- 
ligion is closely united to the Emperor. Finally, 
whereas in the west all the great political reforms 
have been conquered by the people from the sec- 
ular power ; with us, on the contrary, all the re- 
forms have emanated from the sovereign power. 
It is the Emperor who has always guided the na- 
tion on the path of progress ; which explains why 
the Russian people have never ceased to regard the 
Tsar as a father, attentive to the welfare of his chil- 
dren. It is in this collection of ideas that the love 
of the people for their sovereign takes its origin. 
There are no sacrifices which the nation will not 



The Russian Soldier. 



33 



cheerfully undergo at the command of the well- 
beloved monarch. The people rejoice in the joys 
of their Emperor ; they weep in his sorrows ; they 
have with him but one thought, one sentiment, and 
one will." 

The above is a perfectly accurate analysis of the 
national life of Russia, and the relations between 
the Tsar and his subjects. I am well aware that 
recent events seem to contradict it in toto, but the 
contradiction is apparent and not real. It is en- 
tirely foreign to my subject to attempt to give any 
account of Nihilism, even were it possible — which I 
doubt — for any foreigner to thoroughly explain it. 
It springs from the peculiar nature of Russian de- 
velopment ; from certain moody, visionary traits of 
character, with which the readers of Tourguenieff's 
novels are familiar; from the general unsettling of 
ideas, caused by the vast social changes made in 
the present reign, and from some concrete, well- 
founded grievances against the high-handed tyranny 
of the political secret police, or " Third Section." 
But although the Nihilists are recruited from every 
section of the upper and middle classes, yet the 
most extravagant estimate which has ever been 
formed of their numbers does not place them at 
more than a third of one per eent. of the entire 
population. They no more represent Russian so- 
ciety at large than the Socialists represent Ger- 



34 



Army Life in Russia. 



many, the Communists France, or Kearneyites 
America. They have not changed in any manner 
whatever the opinions or character of the mass of 
the Russian people of all classes, and they have 
achieved a noisy prominence only by reason of 
their desperate deeds and of the inability of these 
same police of the " Third Section " to cope with 
them. 

But the point to which I would call particular 
attention is that in Russia " all the reforms have 
emanated from the sovereign power." It is in this 
way that not only has the country been developed, 
but the character of its people been formed ; and 
we find them to-day docile, obedient, strong in en- 
durance, lacking in initiative and individuality, 
receptive rather than creative ; their very thoughts 
are furnished to them, and they expect to be told 
what they need, instead of reasoning it out for 
themselves ; their capacity for individual thought 
is repressed not stimulated, and they must read 
only what is deemed good for them ; as the Tsar is 
their father, so are they in very truth children, and 
the sturdy, self-reliant manhood which is developed 
by the responsibility of self-government is unknown 
in their midst. The great mass of the Russians of 
all classes thus remain in easy-going, contented 
tranquility of mind, following in the path which has 
been marked out for them, and not desiring to 



The Russian Soldier. 



35 



deviate from it ; while from time to time certain 
restless spirits, finding no legitimate outlet possible 
for their activity, imbibing certain western ideas, 
but incapable of practically testing them, because 
of their own inexperience and of the system of 
repression which forbids their ideas from being 
made public, brood in secret only to bring forth 
those miserable outbreaks which have nothing 
better to propose than anarchy, murder, and nihil- 
ism or nothingness. They strike at the Tsar, not 
from personal animosity as against a tyrant, but 
because he is the head of society ; and they have 
nothing to propose but the annihilation of all the 
existing forms of society because the great body of 
the people is unalterably attached to them. 

Were their ideas exposed to the cold analysis of 
the public they would be combatted and over- 
thrown ; were the people treated more as full-grown 
men, responsible for their opinions, these ideas 
would never come into existence, for they are the 
offspring of minds distorted and inflamed by the 
command not to think — under pain of punishment ; 
but, paradoxical as it appears to us, it is none the 
less a fact that the great body of Russians cling to 
this system of repression more tenaciously than the 
Tsar himself. They do not desire to have it 
changed except as he deems fit, and in the manner 
which he judges most expedient. 



CHAPTER III. 



SHIPKA PASS. 

As soon as I had had time to return to Bucharest, 
and purchase certain articles which were necessary 
for my camp outfit, I availed myself of the permis- 
sion tendered by the Emperor and joined the head- 
quarters of the Grand Duke Nicholas, Commander- 
in-chief of the Russian Forces in Bulgaria. Both 
the Emperor and the Grand Duke then had their 
headquarters in the same village (Gorni-Studen), 
on opposite sides of a ravine. The Grand Duke 
lived in much the same style as the Emperor, 
although somewhat plainer ; his suite was smaller, 
his table more meager, and his service made of iron 
lined with porcelain instead of silver lined with 
gold. 

I had been there but two days, when at dinner in 
the evening, a message was brought in to the Grand 
Duke which caused him to break off a jovial con- 
versation, and hastily write something in pencil for 
the chief of staff, who immediately left the table. 
The Grand Duke is of an entirely different tem- 
perament from his brother, the Emperor ; responsi- 

36 



Shipka Pass. 



37 



bility seemed to rest as light as air upon his broad 
shoulders. He was ever jovial, ever in good humor. 
Throughout the whole campaign this was the one 
occasion when he manifested anxiety. But there 
was no doubt he was very anxious now. The hum 
of conversation of the fifty or sixty officers present 
at dinner ceased, and there was a painful silence — 
every one waiting to hear what the news was. In a 
few minutes, to relieve the suspense, the Grand Duke 
read out the despatch in Russian ; it was translated 
for me by my neighbor at table, and was to the 
effect that the troops in Shipka Pass, consisting of 
only 2,000 Russians and 3,000 Bulgarian Militia, had 
been fighting all that day (August 21st) with the 
Turkish army of Suleiman Pasha, numbering about 
30,000 ; that so far they had held their own, defeat- 
ing the Turkish assaults, but the battle was still 
going on and its issue was at least doubtful. 

The dinner soon broke up, and the Grand Duke 
with his chief of staff retired at once to his tent, 
instead of walking about as usual, chatting with 
the officers and listening to the music of the band. 
Returning to my own tent I found that my neigh- 
bor, Major Von Liegnitz, the military attache of 
Germany, was preparing to start for Shipka in the 
morning. It needed but a moment's reflection for 
me to determine to do likewise. I went back to 
headquarters to ask the Grand Duke's permission, 



38 



Army Life in Russia. 



got an order for a Cossack to accompany me as an 
orderly, came back and packed a few necessary 
articles in my saddle bag and went to sleep. We 
were off before five o'clock the next morning, and 
took the most direct, but not the main road, to 
Shipka Pass, distant nearly eighty miles. Liegnitz 
was familiar with the country from having passed 
over it during the previous month with Gourko. 
The heat was excessive, absolutely compelling us to 
lie over for a couple of hours at noon. 

The portion of Bulgaria through which our route 
lay is as lovely a bit of agricultural land as the 
earth affords. Gently rolling hills, separated by 
brooks or small streams of pure cold water, and 
covered with corn, wheat, barley, or vines, with 
bunches of dark elms and oaks interspersed here 
and there, and patches of grass with flocks of sheep 
grazing on them — it was everywhere as gentle and 
pastoral a scene as could be imagined. The huts of 
the inhabitants were congregated in little villages, 
three or four miles apart, there being no isolated 
houses except now and then a " tchiftlik," or 
country place of some Bey, with so many buildings 
around it as to form almost a village in itself. In 
the fields the men were reaping and gathering the 
grain ; in the villages the women, in bright pictur- 
esque clothing, were occupied in threshing. This was 
being done according to the methods current in the 



Shipka Pass. 



39 



time of Moses. In the yard of each hut was a 
smooth, well-beaten and baked floor of earth, with a 
post in the center. To this post a half dozen little 
ponies without shoes were attached by a cord, and 
were driven round and round through the pile of 
grain. In another yard, a rickety old cart without 
tires on the wheels, loaded with weights and drawn 
by a pair of oxen, replaced the ponies as threshers ; 
in another the threshed grain was being thrown into 
the air with a wooden shovel, the wind blowing 
away the chaff as the grain fell. 

As I stood watching these primitive and prime- 
val operations, my mind wandered back to Califor- 
nia, and my imagination tried to conjure up what 
would be the expression of one of these heavy- 
faced peasants if transplanted to the San Juaquin 
valley, and brought face to face with a six-horse 
mower-reaper-and-thresher, moving over an im- 
mense field of standing grain, loading its bins with 
the same grain ready for sacking, and accomplish- 
ing more, with the same animal power, in a day, 
than these people in two months. 

We passed the night in one of these villages, 
sleeping on the porch of the " Starshina," or elder 
of the village. Although ready to pay for every- 
thing with good gold and silver, it was only by dint 
of threats and blows that we obtained food for 
our horses. There was everywhere the cunning of 



40 



Army Life in Russia. 



affected stupidity, which answers all questions with 
other questions, finally ending in the reply of "don't 
know." Every man watched his neighbor, every 
one ready, no doubt, to betray his neighbor should 
the fortune of war bring the Turks into the village, 
and every one fearing the arrival of this fortune 
and betrayal. A more uninviting race on casual ac- 
quaintance than the Bulgarian peasants can hardly 
exist ; centuries of oppression, extortion, misrule, 
and injustice, have apparently deadened every sense 
of manly independence and straightforward cour- 
age, and replaced them with the low cunning and 
duplicity, which are commonly attributed to the 
Jews. 

On the morning of the second day we reached 
the edge of the Balkans, joined the main road, and 
passed through miles of artillery and supply wagons 
and troops, hastening forward as re-enforcements, 
alternating with other miles of fugitives, fleeing 
across the mountains from before the Turkish ad- 
vance. The latter formed a motley collection, old 
and young, men, women, children and babes, carts 
and wagons, buffaloes, oxen, horses and jackasses, 
pieces of bedding, tables or other household furni- 
ture, gathered together in every variety of form — 
stopping, gypsy fashion, in a field along side the 
road to rest, or moving on in a long caravan they 
knew not whither, but certain that every step 



Shipka Pass. 



41 



widened the distance between them and the dread- 
ed, hated Turk. 

In the afternoon, we came within sound of the 
guns booming away upon the mountain, and as we 
crossed a ridge, saw the smoke curling up through 
the trees in the distance. Then we descended into 
a valley and reached the town of Gabrova, where 
the peasants were stolidly standing about the cor- 
ners or in the coffee shops, staring at the troops as 
they marched past, or at some mounted messen- 
ger striving to make good speed over the slippery 
broken pavement of the crooked little streets. Here 
we met a Cossack officer with his squadron, which 
had been in the fight the day before ; he had an 
acquaintance with Liegnitz, and gave us two horses 
in place of our own, which were exhausted and 
were left behind with our Cossack orderlies. With 
our fresh mounts, and the insufferable Cossack sad- 
dles, we pushed on rapidly up the mountain, and 
reached the field about four o'clock. 

Shipka Pass is not a pass at all, or at least not a 
gorge or defile. It is a long, gently sloping cross 
spur of the Balkans, up and over which a fine high 
road has been built, passing its highest point at an 
altitude of nearly five thousand feet above sea-level. 
On either side of the spur are deep, precipitous val- 
leys, heading at the base of the main range, and 
beyond them are other parallel spurs. The Rus- 



42 



Army Life in Russia. 



sians were on a few knolls at the top of the road on 
the central spur ; the Turks were in front of them 
and overlapping them on either side along the par- 
allel spurs, and completely commanding their posi- 
tion from three directions. We wound along the 
road up the hill, passing batteries of artillery with 
double teams striving to pull up the guns ; alter- 
nating with these were battalions of infantry, many 
a man of whom had but a few hours to live, but 
whose only thought now seemed to be the intense 
heat and the fatigue of the climb. Then we came 
to a collection of immense soup-kettles which had 
just arrived, and were being set up on the side of 
the road to cook some supper for the men ; the 
cooks were busy with their preparations, or standing 
about in their shirtsleeves, joking with the troops as 
they passed. Half a mile further on were the tem- 
porary hospitals, three or four tents pitched on the 
side of the road, sending forth painful groans or 
screams ; a line of stretchers supplying the patients 
on one side, and a line of ambulances on the other, 
carrying them down the mountain after their wounds 
had been dressed or operated upon. From here on, 
the sharp, incessant rattle of the musketry was 
plainly distinguishable among the more intermit- 
tent booms of cannons, and from the lines of smoke 
curling up through the trees we began to make out 
the positions of the opposing troops. We soon 



Shipka Pass. 



43 



arrived among the Russians, and Liegnitz advised 
dismounting and leaving our horses behind the 
shelter of a little knoll, while we made our way for- 
ward on foot. From this knoll we turned into some 
bushes and met two officers making their way back, 
and telling us not to go ahead, we could not pass 
there. We kept on quietly, and in a few yards 
came out of the bushes into the open, on a narrow 
bit of road completely commanded by a cross-fire 
from the Turks. Along this road was the only way 
to reach the main Russian position in advance of 
us. We walked along rapidly, the bullets singing 
and whistling about our ears and scattering the dust 
on our feet ; I " ducked " my head at the sharpest 
whistles, as one instinctively does until he finally 
learns- by experience that there is no use of dodg- 
ing, for the bullet whose sound you hear has al- 
ready passed you, and you will never hear the whiz 
of the one that strikes. This little piece of open 
road was not over three hundred yards long, and 
we were across it in half that number of seconds. 
Once passed, we came under the shelter of a little 
knoll or ridge about fifteen feet high, along the base 
of which ran the road, and on the crest of which 
was a line of Russians blazing away with all their 
might at the Turks a few hundred yards in front of 
them. It was the third day of the hard, unequal 
fight. Just here, a few hours before, the Russians 



44 



Army Life in Russia. 



had grown discouraged with the great odds against 
them, and the exhaustion incident to sixty hours of 
fighting, almost without food or water; their officers 
had been nearly all killed, and, mistaking a large 
number of wounded making to the rear for a gen- 
eral retreat, they had begun gradually to turn back, 
when they were stopped by the determined energy 
and courage of a certain Colonel Lipinsky; and, as 
good fortune would have it, were just rallying when 
the vanguard of the re-enforcements came trotting 
up the road on Cossack horses, and dismounting 
and joining them, succeeded in driving back the 
Turks, who had nearly reached the crest of this 
little hill. The hot fight at this particular place had 
been going on for a couple of hours, and had now 
turned definitely in favor of the Russians, and the 
Turks were rapidly retreating across the little valley 
in front of them. In half an hour's time the firing 
began to lull, except the long-range shots of the 
Turks from the woods in the opposite spur, whose 
bullets went whistling away over our heads, but 
doing no harm. 

We sat down on the reverse slope of this little 
hill, and learned from the commanding general the 
details of the fighting of this and the preceding 
days. We were soon joined by General Radetzky, 
the commander of the Eighth Corps, who had ar- 
rived on the field a few minutes before us, and had 



Shipka Pass. 



45 



been engaged in that preliminary survey of the 
ground. By virtue of his seniority he assumed 
command of all the troops present. 

Meanwhile a few troops continued arriving as 
re-enforcements. They were huddled together as 
compactly as possible under the slight shelter af- 
forded by the little hill, until the arrival of night, 
when they could be moved forward into other posi- 
tions. 

The desultory firing continued, and an hour or 
more later the sun went down behind the moun- 
tains on the west, and simultaneously a grand full 
moon came over the peaks in the east. It was one 
of those scenes which print themselves indelibly on 
the memory. A rugged chain of mountains, cov- 
ered with deep forests tinged with the peculiar 
greenish tint of the moonlight, and surrounded by 
deep gorges, across which the shadow of some pro- 
jecting rock was thrown with startling clearness of 
outline ; a cloudless sky, warm summer air, and the 
stillness of mountain solitude, interrupted at in- 
tervals by a momentary pop-pop of some sharp- 
shooter across the ravine, or by the rumble of artil- 
lery wheels, or the groan of some sufferer nearer at 
hand — it had all the elements of striking contrast 
necessary for the highest artistic effect. 

All the troops having arrived which might be ex- 
pected before morning, they were roused from the 



4 6 



Army Life in Russia. 



fragmentary slumber which they were seizing in the 
midst of the road, unmindful of the wheels which 
passed hardly a foot from their heads, and were led 
forward quietly around the point of our little hill, 
and along the open road toward the advanced 
Russian position on another rocky hill called St. 
Nicholas. 

The moon betrayed us at once, and immediately 
the two Turkish hills on either side were all ablaze 
with little lines and specks of fire as in an exhibi- 
tion of fire-works ; the long, sharp rattle of the 
muskets alternated with the occasional deeper boom 
of a field-piece, quickly followed by the peculiar 
rushing scream of pieces of shrapnel ; and all these 
sounds went echoing and reverberating down the 
gorges, while along the woods on either side sharp 
lines of transitory flame were darting about like 
meteors. It was a beautiful sight — beautiful in the 
sense that a terrible storm at sea on a bright sunny 
day is beautiful, when one stands near the stern and 
watches the rich green bend of the wave just before 
it breaks, then the snowy foam, and the angry snarl 
of the water as it surges past the rudder — the 
deck pointing one minute into the very base of a 
mountain of water, and the next into the sky it- 
self ; and then a sudden thud and tremor, when 
the mind wonders whether this pigmy of a ship 
will hold her own against the mighty forces of 



Shipka Pass. 



47 



nature. It was beautiful, as all strong sensations, 
unmixed with vice, are beautiful, and particularly 
when surrounded with strange unusual effects of 
nature. 

It was an hour or more before the troops had all 
been posted ; then Liegnitz and myself quietly 
walked back to find our horses and pick out some 
place to sleep. No troops being in sight, the Turks 
were perfectly quiet ; hardly a shot was fired as we 
walked back along the whole position for about two 
miles ; the stillness was almost oppressive, and the 
bright light of the moon was most weird. We 
found our horses, shoved their noses into a pile of 
hay belonging to an artillery battery, feeling sure 
that they would not move before morning, and we 
were soon in a profound slumber on the side of the 
road. 

I was awakened by Major Liegnitz tugging at my 
clothing and exclaiming, " Voila ! V affaire recom- 
mence" The sun was just visible, rising above the 
woody tops of the mountains toward a cloudless 
sky, and the Turks had saluted its appearance by a 
rousing fusillade from all sides. It was an ani- 
mated reveille. The whole mountain sides were 
enveloped in smoke, through which, but not so 
distinctly as in the moonlight of the evening, 
the lines of flame marking the muzzles could just 
be seen. We got up and crossed the road to a 



4 8 



Army Life in Russia. 



little clump of rocks from which, with our glasses, a 
large part of the mountains could be seen, and 
there we watched the beautiful sunrise and its 
strange attendant surroundings. Nothing devel- 
oped itself, however. The Turks were merely giv- 
ing a morning salute from behind their woods, 
firing across the ravines at the Russian positions in 
general, but at nothing in particular. An hour or 
two later a battalion of infantry came marching 
along the road, and turning into a little open space 
near us, it stacked arms. It was the advance guard 
of the Fourteenth Infantry Division, the troops 
who had led in the passage of the Danube, and the 
rest of the division was not far behind them on the 
road. With this battalion came General Dragomi- 
roff, the commander of the division, a stout person 
wearing spectacles and having the general appear- 
ance of a German professor, although very quiet 
and undemonstrative in manner. He sat down 
with us on the rocks, and Liegnitz, who had been 
with him at the passage of the river and formed his 
acquaintance there, explained to him the position 
of the troops, the events of the past three days, 
and the general condition of affairs. In this way a 
considerable time was passed, during which a few 
more of his troops continued to arrive. He then 
made certain dispositions of them — sending a por- 
tion across the ravine on our right, and leading the 



Shipka Pass. 



49 



rest forward to the hills where we had been the 
previous day — first, however, relieving our personal 
anxiety concerning food by sharing with us a large 
piece of cold mutton, some white bread, and a flask 
of brandy. 

The troops fell in, took their arms, and moved out 
in column of fours along the road ; Liegnitz was 
asked to pilot the head of the column in order to 
avoid as much as possible of the ugly open space of 
road so exposed to the Turks ; the General with his 
staff and myself rode at the rear of the column. 
Just after the leading portion of the column had 
turned a clump of rocks and came out in the open, 
the Turks discovered them and let go their fire. It 
was very nearly a volley of about two thousand or 
more pieces (nearly all, fortunately, aimed a little too 
high), and the number of bullets was so great that 
the individual whistle of each was swallowed up in 
a general rushing sound as of a sudden gust of wind 
just preceding a shower. The effect on the men 
was most comical ; they all toppled in succession 
like a pile of bricks towards the rocks whose shelter 
they had just passed. The General and other 
officers sung out to them something like " What are 
you about, you geese ? " and the men recovered 
themselves, looked at each other and grinned as 
men do on an escape from danger, and turning again 
in the direction of the advance, moved forward with- 
3 



50 



Army Life in Russia. 



out the slightest further deviation, though a very 
considerable number were hit before we got across 
to the shelter of the hill. Arrived there, the men 
were massed under the reverse slope to await fur- 
ther orders, while General Dragomiroff was met by 
General Darozhinsky, who invited him to come up 
to the eastern point of the little hill, whence he 
could show him a good bird's eye view of the whole 
position. In dismounting, Liegnitz and myself had 
a little trouble in inducing the Cossack orderly to 
hold our horses, he having already nearly as many 
as he could attend to. In this way we were delayed 
two or three minutes ; we then began climbing the 
hill towards the point where the others were stand- 
ing in a group, fifty or sixty yards in front of us. 
Just then we saw two of the group stagger, and 
running forward we met General Dragomiroff and 
his chief of staff, both of whom had been hit only 
a moment after they showed themselves on the 
point of the hill. Dragomiroff was shot in the knee, 
and the other in the upper part of the thigh. Boots 
were cut off, a stretcher hailed, tourniquets applied 
to stanch the bleeding, both smiled with an effort 
and said they felt comfortable, and then moved off 
on their stretchers to the field hospital — one to die 
the next day, and the other to endure the torture of 
a journey of thousands of miles swung on his back, 
and to hobble through life with a crooked knee and 



Sliipka Pass. 



51 



a heavy cane. It was all an affair of so few minutes, 
and yet so decisive to them individually. It repre- 
sented fairly the touch-and-go nature of war and of 
a soldier's life, and the lack of melodramatic ele- 
ments (as a rule) in modern war since the invention 
of long range muskets. A man lives to the age of 
forty-five years, and the grade of Major General, 
without ever being under fire. He then commands 
the advance guard at the passage of a river, and 
with success. In his second fight he arrives quietly 
on the field, goes to take a view of the position, and 
is immediately knocked over. There is no charging, 
no close combat, no hot blooded excitement, every 
one is as cool as if we were a party of tourists, tak- 
ing a first look at a fine bit of mountain scenery. 
It is an affair of a minute, and for the rest of his 
days there is no more battle, no more commanding 
troops in action, of which he has been thinking these 
twenty-five years, no more active practice of his pro- 
fession (as a lawyer's practice is active when he 
argues a great cause, or a merchant's when he does a 
great stroke of business), nothing but hobbling 
through life and teaching military science to junior 
officers. And it happened all by such a chance ! 

Such scenes are every-day scenes in war ; they are 
as old as war itself ; they are the essential charac- 
teristic of any one's experience in war — but they 
sharpen one's wits, and, during them, minutes count 



52 



Army Life in Russia. 



as years of ordinary existence in developing the 
faculities. 

As the two stretchers moved down the hill and 
we turned to watch the fighting again, poor General 
Darozhinsky was much troubled in his mind ; he 
had invited them to the position where they had 
been hit, and in a measure felt responsible for their 
misfortune. He little imagined that he would be 
dead before either of them. A dozen rods from 
the same spot, the next morning about sunrise he 
was sitting on the ground, drinking a glass of tea, 
and fancying himself under shelter. A plunging 
bullet entered his left side, and he was dead before 
the tea fell from his hands. Such is war, and yet 
soldiers, like other people, fancy that they have 
some share in shaping their own lives and direct- 
ing their fate. 

We watched the battle throughout the greater 
part of the day. There was a short but vigorous 
assault on the Russian left at Mount St. Nicholas 
about noon, but for the rest of the time the fir- 
ing was desultory. The Turks had wasted their 
strength in ineffectual assaults, and the first part 
of the four months' fighting around these moun- 
tain tops was over. Liegnitz and myself hastened 
back to headquarters in order to be in time for the 
grand affair at Plevna, which was daily expected. 



CHAPTER IV. 



PLEVNA. 

The name of Plevna has ground itself into his- 
tory. Full twenty thousand men died fighting on 
the pretty vine-clad hills which surround the little 
town, and nearly three times that number there 
found wounds, the effects of which they will carry 
through the rest of their shortened lives. It was 
the scene of one of the great sieges of history, ac- 
companied with many bloody battles, and it is 
almost the synonym of the latest and fiercest of 
the many wars, incident to the settlement of the 
Eastern question. 

The town is made up of about a thousand houses, 
situated on wandering, crooked little streets, such as 
only a Turkish town affords. Seen from the hills 
from which we watched it so long, it was a little 
clump of red-tiled roofs and whitewashed walls, with 
half a dozen staring white minarets raised above 
the surrounding roofs, and in the suburbs a large 
Christian church, with much green paint on the 
roof and a collection of gilded crosses above the 
cupolas. It nestles in a little valley at the junction 

53 



54 



Army Life in Russia. 



of two meandering brooks, which unite at its lower 
end, and after a couple of miles discharge into a 
river about three feet deep and two hundred feet 
wide at ordinary seasons. On the west of this river, 
as seen from the bluffs on its eastern bank, the eye 
discovers nothing but a treeless plain, although in 
traveling over it it is found to be undulating ; on 
the east the hills rise abruptly to the height of seven 
or eight hundred feet, and their crest at this altitude 
surrounds the town in a radius of five to six miles, 
the surface of this circle being broken into deep 
ravines by the brooks above-mentioned and their 
branches. 

The place has no military importance beyond that 
belonging to any junction of two high-roads and a 
few smaller ones. At the declaration of war it was 
an ordinary agricultural town ; the surrounding hills 
were planted in corn and wheat and vines, and the 
inhabitants led that life of comparative peace — wait- 
ing for the opportunity to arrive when their smoul- 
dering hate should break out into violence against 
each other — which is characteristic of all mixed 
Mohammedan and Christian towns in Turkey. 
The events of the war brought a Turkish army to 
the place and forced it to defend it to the last ex- 
tremity ; this, in turn, forced the Russians to con- 
centrate their whole energy upon its capture ; and 
both sides followed out their necessities to the bit- 



Plevna. 



55 



ter end. Three times in the space of seven weeks 
the Russians attempted to take it by the brute force 
of an open assault, only to be each time defeated 
with ever-increasing slaughter. Then they turned 
their efforts to hermetically sealing it up from the 
outside world, and finally starved it out. The third 
and most bloody of these assaults — that of Septem- 
ber nth — I witnessed from the batteries which con- 
tributed their share towards it, and it is of this one 
that I shall try to give a sketch. 

On the 4th of September the headquarters of the 
Ninth Corps, commanded by General Krudener, 
with whom I was sojourning, were moved from one 
little village to another about ten miles east of 
Plevna. Then a halt was made, the preparations 
for the advance not yet being completed, and the 
whole of the 5th and of the 6th were passed in the 
nervous inaction of awaiting the development of 
events. They were cold, rainy days ; nobody had 
more than the shelter of a tent-fly, and few had 
that ; the sutlers moved about from point to point 
doing a thriving business ; the officers ate prodig- 
iously and drank freely; there was everywhere a 
forced but boisterous gayety. At sunset on the 
evening of the 6th the troops were formed and 
moved forward. They had only a few miles to go, 
but the night was dark and the road obstructed. 
The troops marched short distances only to halt for 



56 



Army Life in Russia. 



long intervals and lie down in the road for a nap, 
while the officers sat nodding on their horses. After 
a while the general and his staff rode forward to the 
head of the column. Some five hundred men were 
here working silently but most vigorously with their 
picks and spades, while others were placing gabions, 
fascines, and platforms in position. A regiment 
had been thrown fonvard about half a mile in ad- 
vance as skirmishers and pickets to cover the con- 
struction of the battery, and the ear listened nerv- 
ously to hear their first shot. But, save the hurried, 
muffled noise of the spades and earth, no sound was 
audible. Soon after midnight the battery was com- 
pleted, the eight siege-guns hauled into position, 
the ammunition stored in some sort of bomb-proofs, 
the troops disposed on either flank, and everything 
was ready for the morning. The general rode back 
a few hundred yards, and we dismounted and dozed 
there till daylight. As the day broke the whole 
Turkish position was in front of us, a couple of 
miles away. On our right was a high, rounded hill, 
whose green slopes culminated in a low, brownish 
mound, which we knew at once to be the great 
Krishin redoubt. Curving from this as an apex, on 
either side of the town, the lines of fortifications 
could be dimly made out in the twilight of dawn. 
Not a soul seemed to be stirring. The sun rose in 
a clear sky, and the lines became plainly distin- 



Plevna, 



57 



guishable, and off on our left, on the brow of the 
Radishevo ridge, was also seen the freshly-turned 
earth of the Russian batteries. At six o'clock there 
was an explosion from the battery in front of us, 
followed by the vibrating scream of the shell, the 
sound of which gradually diminished in the dis- 
tance ; eleven seconds afterwards a cloud of dust 
was thrown up from the Krishin parapet, and 
greeted by a loud hurrah from the Russian troops. 
Immediately the parapet was lined with black dots, 
a hundred or more men jumping up to see what 
had happened, and a second later a horse galloped 
out from the redoubt towards the village, carrying, 
doubtless, a messenger to headquarters. The Turks 
are notoriously bad watchmen ; a line of batteries 
had been built under their nose, and nearly ninety 
thousand men had gathered in front of them during 
the night without their pickets firing a shot; and 
apparently their first intimation of what had trans- 
pired was derived from this 90-pounder messenger of 
iron which had dropped in upon them. But they 
were not long in answering. Hardly a dozen shots 
had been fired from the various Russian batteries 
before a puff of smoke curled up from the Krishin 
parapet, and we saw the shell explode a long way 
in front of us. The second or third, however, fell 
squarely on the parapet, throwing the dirt in the 
faces of the Russian gunners, and one not long 
3* 



S3 



Army Life in Russia. 



afterwards dropped in the bushes near our group, 
and caused us to move back to a more advantageous 
point of observation. The guns answered one an- 
other from every point of the two lines, and the 
ball was fairly opened. 

It continued throughout the whole of this and 
the three succeeding days and nights, and grew 
monotonous. There were tentative infantry skir- 
mishes here and there, developing almost into a 
battle at one point, but the characteristic feature 
of these four days was the cannonade. We watched 
it for hours with the glasses until our eyes grew 
dim ; saw the dust of the exploding shells time 
after time in the very midst of the redoubts, and 
received the same in our own. The symmetry of 
the nicely-made Turkish works was sadly marred, 
and one gun after another seemed to be silenced ; 
but the fire ever broke out in a new place, and still 
the stout piles of earth forming the parapets re- 
mained in place and warned the Russians that they 
could still give a murderous reception. The as- 
saults had been originally intended for the 9th, but 
were postponed from day to day in the hope of 
their being made easier by the hammering of the 
artillery ; but the dirt parapets were as uninviting 
as ever. The Grand Duke and his staff arrived and 
rode through all the batteries. Prince Charles, of 
Roumania, the nominal commander of the assem- 



Plevna. 



59 



bled troops, was daily on hand. The Emperor and 
his suite drove on to the field in barouches every 
morning, mounted their horses, and rode to one or 
another advantageous point of view ; assembled at 
noon for a hearty lunch al fresco, and at dusk drove 
back to his headquarters at a village some ten miles 
in rear. 

The thing began to drag. We rode from day to 
day from one end of the line to the other, we for- 
eigners and newspaper correspondents (of which 
there were nearly twenty on the field) meeting at 
this point or that, and as we constantly discovered 
some new line of Turkish trench or battery which 
we had not previously seen, our bright enthusiasm 
of the first morning began to wane, and the dull, 
gloomy suspicion forced itself upon us that this was 
to be no holiday affair, deciding the war at a sin- 
gle blow, but a terrible battle, with the odds enor- 
mously against the chance of Russian success. 

Finally, the assaults were fixed for September 
nth, the Emperor's name-day. Four days' inces- 
sant bombardment had silenced nearly all the Turk- 
ish guns, which were far inferior in numbers and 
weight to those of the Russians ; but it had also 
shown that the earthern parapets were practically 
but little injured, and that they would be in the 
same condition if bombarded for four weeks or 
months. Nevertheless, it was necessary to begin 



6o 



Army Life in Russia. 



some time, and what better day than this? They 
have a sentimental fancy in Russia for anniversaries. 
For example, the negotiations for the treaty of San 
Stefano were allowed to drag on, through Turkish 
procrastination, for nearly five weeks, and were then 
brought to a conclusion in two or three days, in 
time to be signed on the 3d of March (February 
19th, O. S.), the anniversary both of the Emperor's 
accession and of the signing of the ukase freeing the 
serfs. The nth of September (August 30th, O. S.) 
is the feast-day of St. Alexander Nevsky, one of the 
most famous saints in the Russian calendar, and 
therefore the feast-day also of all who bear the 
name of Alexander. What more graceful compli- 
ment to the Emperor, who had come to encourage 
his men by sharing the hardships of the campaign, 
than to link his name with that of the great decisive 
battle of the war, and to give him a great victory as 
a name-day present? — as General Sherman offered 
the city of Savannah to Mr. Lincoln for a Christmas 
gift in 1864. 

During the night of the 10th the rain fell in tor- 
rents ; this was succeeded by a fog and mist so 
dense that it was hard to tell when day broke, and 
when our watches told us it must be broad daylight, 
nothing could be seen at the distance of a few hun- 
dred yards. Nearly all the regiments had left their 
knapsacks and shelter-tents at the villages where 



Plevna. 



61 



they had bivouacked a few days before, and had 
nothing with them but their muskets, cartridges, 
overcoats, and a small amount of rations. The 
men awoke cold, wet, and stiff ; the ground was 
covered with a slimy paste of mud ; the air was 
raw and damp. It was altogether a most dismal 
day. 

The assaults had been fixed for three o'clock in 
the afternoon, and were to be preceded by an elab- 
orate artillery programme, which, however, was alto- 
gether disconcerted by the fog. Early in the morn- 
ing a sharp rattle was heard through the mist from 
Skobeleff's position, off on the left ; and the troops 
in the center became involved in a very brisk affair, 
in which they lost over two thousand men without 
any advantage whatever. The Emperor arrived 
before noon, and, with the Grand Duke, Prince 
Charles, and their numerous suites, took up a very 
advantageous position (had there been no fog) on a 
hill near the right of the Russian lines, from which, 
on a clear day, the whole position could be very dis- 
tinctly seen. 

The fog lifted and settled again during the day ; 
the artillery burst forth from time to time, occa- 
sionally mingled with the rattling from the picket 
lines ; the men lay in the mud, behind the shelter 
of the various hills and ridges, chatting, joking, and 
making as merry as possible in their dismal surround- 



62 



Army Life in Russia. 



ings. At three o'clock, on every part of the line 
the troops were formed and moved forward, grouped 
in three principal columns for assault on three 
specified points. In company with some German 
newspaper correspondents, I selected a good point 
of observation, a few yards from the batteries on 
the left of the Radishevo ridge, and nearly at the 
center of the whole line, and we watched the assault 
at that point. The hill on which we stood was fully 
one hundred and fifty feet higher than the Turkish 
redoubt known as No. 10 on the Russian maps, and 
about two thousand five hundred yards from it. 
The hill sloped gently from us, and completely 
overlooked the whole basin — filled with redoubts 
and batteries — to the commanding ridge of Krishin, 
opposite to us, and about three miles distant. 
While the guns redoubled their activity, firing with 
the utmost rapidity and a deafening racket, the 
infantry slowly filed past us in column of platoons, 
the men looking serious, but not sad, and crossing 
themselves and muttering their prayers incessantly 
as they passed the brow of the hill and moved down 
the slope. When they arrived at the base of it they 
were under the shelter of a little ravine, and the 
redoubt (No. 10) lay on their left, and about fifteen 
hundred yards from them, the greater part of this 
distance being nearly level, or sloping gently up to 
the redoubt, part of it covered with standing corn, 



Plevna. 



63 



and part of it (the greater part) entirely open, the 
corn having been cut. 

The troops composing this particular column 
numbered six battalions, or about five thousand 
men ; when they reached the little ravine just men- 
tioned, they halted and lay down for a few minutes 
of rest ; then they turned by the left flank, and, 
leaving one battalion in reserve, moved forward in 
line, the center battalion being in company column. 
They were not long in coming on the brow of the 
slope leading to the redoubt, and in full view of it. 
They moved forward, preserving a fair alignment, 
steadily, slowly, grandly. Nothing can be finer as a 
mere spectacle than the sight of a line of troops 
moving forward with blind, unthinking obedience 
and faith into battle. 

They were fully twelve hundred yards from the 
Turkish redoubt when the smoke began to curl up 
along the line of its parapet, and the pop, pop, of 
its muskets gradually increased in sound till it re- 
sembled the drummers' long roll. The fog had 
partly lifted, and the redoubt, as well as other parts 
of the field, could be fairly well seen ; the Russians 
answered back at the Turks and still kept advanc- 
ing. The columns on either side of us were by this 
time also fully engaged, the din was very consider- 
able, and the smoke was beginning to collect in 
low dense clouds, gradually drifting across the land- 
scape, before the wind. 



64 



Army Life in Riissia. 



The Russian line gradually moved on ; to us 
above them, and some distance on one side, the 
rate of progress seemed terribly slow, but it never 
halted. Individual men could be seen running for- 
ward, firing and falling ; a few others in the rear 
moving back, throwing up their arms and falling, 
but the main line — a black, irregular, waving band, 
of which the individuals could only be distin- 
guished by the glass — still stretched across the 
stubble-field, and still moved on. Finally they had 
passed half the space from the little ravine to the 
redoubt, and then they stopped and lay down, and 
the firing increased in rapidity. A few minutes 
later they got up again, the center battalion now 
deployed in line, and again moved forward. They 
were soon so near the redoubt that the batteries 
near us ceased firing for fear of injuring their own 
men ; the gunners leaned on their pieces watching 
their comrades below, and the silence in our neigh- 
borhood was oppressive, although the more distant 
noise became ever louder and more boisterous. 
Finally the line of Russians seemed to be within 
only one hundred or two hundred yards of the re- 
doubt ; the line could be seen to break into a run, 
and then all was lost in a confused mass of smoke, 
through which the fire from the muzzles leaped 
back and forth from end to end of the parapet, like 
flashes of lightning, and out of which was heard the 



Plevna. 



6 5 



sharp, continuous rattle of the muskets, but no 
individual sound. It was the critical moment ; 
nothing was in sight but the cloud of smoke, and 
we held our breath in suspense awaiting the result. 
My God ! they are coming back ! Black dots began 
to emerge from the smoke, increasing in numbers, 
until it was seen to be the whole line, confused and 
irregular, but still intact, gradually moving back to 
the rear. The sound of shouts came through the 
smoke, and now the fire of the Turks seemed to 
increase with the fury of hell itself. As the smoke 
partly blew away, the parapet seemed made of 
sheets of flame ; and outside of the redoubt there 
was a regiment or more of Turks fighting in the 
open, and still others behind them climbing the 
slope from the direction of Plevna. And now a 
mass of black objects were seen streaming over the 
parapet at one corner, jumping and running forward 
toward the retreating Russians. The Turks were 
following up their victory. But this lasted but a 
few minutes. The Russian line stopped, turned, 
lay down, and sent back a greeting of death as 
warm as that which they were receiving. It was 
but a second before the Turks were swarming back 
into their redoubt as rapidly as they had come out. 
Then the Russians got up and continued their 
retreat — a few running, but the great mass steadily 
walking in a confused line, stopping now and then 



66 



Army Life in Russia. 



to return the fire. As they retreated, the battalion 
which had been left in reserve came hurrying for- 
ward at a run, but it was a bagatelle in strength, 
and merely joined their comrades and returned 
with them. The whole lot were soon back under 
the shelter of the ravine again. It was a little over 
thirty minutes since they had left it to advance ; 
and fifteen hundred of their number now lay in the 
furrows among the corn-stalks. The Turkish hur- 
rahs came echoing over the field ; their men stood 
defiantly on the parapet ; the Russians sat ex- 
hausted and bewildered under the shelter of their 
little ravine ; the firing simmered down to a few 
scattered shots ; soon it ceased altogether, and was 
succeeded by the stillness of death, in painful con- 
trast to the noise of a few minutes before. The 
stubble-field was covered here and there with black 
objects. Three of these were noticed to rise, and 
two began to run ; then the firing recommenced ; 
thousands of bullets came chasing after these three 
lone objects ; first one threw up his hands and 
plunged headlong on his face, then the other ; the 
third went on at a walk, defiantly, with head erect, 
swinging his arms ; then, either losing his nerve, or 
stung with a bullet, he began to run, but before he 
had gone ten steps he too fell headlong. Every- 
thing was quiet again, and over the whole field not 
an object moved. 



Plevna. 



6 7 



Meanwhile, the distant firing continued uninter- 
ruptedly on both sides of us, but we could make 
nothing of it through the fog and smoke, and our 
hearts were too sick with what we had just seen to 
feel much interest in it. If nothing could be finer 
than their advance half an hour ago, certainly noth- 
ing could be sadder than the sight before us now. 
Brave men had done their best, one in four giving 
up his life in the effort, but they could not accom- 
plish the impossible. They came slowly up the hill 
again to where we stood, their faces sad but not 
panic-stricken, filed down the reverse slope, stacked 
arms, and lay down to sleep, overcome with fatigue 
and bewilderment. 

As they passed by us, another disjointed attack 
was going on against the same redoubt by other 
troops off to our left. The assaults were not simul- 
taneous, and the Turks had only to turn to the 
other side of their work to drive back this more 
easily than they did the first, for it was not pushed 
so far. The line was withdrawn, the fire slackened, 
and darkness, smoke, and fog gradually settled over 
the whole field. The sun, which never shone, had 
set on the Emperor's name-day, and his name-day 
gift was only a roll of five thousand killed and ten 
thousand wounded of his own subjects, without 
counting the losses of his gallant young allies, the 
Roumanians, who had borne the principal part in 



68 



Army Life in Russia. 



the assault on our right* against the Krishin re- 
doubt. 

I turned my horse down the hill and met a party 
of English correspondents and the English military 
attache, who had witnessed the same struggle as 
myself from a point a few hundred yards to the 
left ; leaving them, I rode rapidly over to the Em- 
peror's point of observation. On my way I met the 
younger Grand Duke Nicholas, who eagerly ques- 
tioned me for information, and then galloped on to 
relate it to his father. When I came up the elder 
Grand Duke was standing at the steps of the Em- 
peror's carriage. As the Emperor returned my 
salute, I got a good look at his face ; his expression 
was sad and very thoughtful, but still dignified. It 
seemed simply as if he had an unusual load of care 
in addition to that which his face habitually gave 
signs of. The two brothers kissed on the cheek 
after the Russian fashion, and the Emperor drove off, 
followed by the carriages and cavaliers of his suite, 
and the half-wild, grotesquely-dressed Cossacks of 
his escort. What must have been his thoughts 
during this ten miles' drive in the drizzling rain 
and darkness! Fortunately, being but a man, he 
could not realize it all. Could he feel the measure 
of his misfortune in the same proportion that a cap- 
tain of a company in that death's hollow near him 
felt his, the weight of it would grind him to powder. 



Plevna. 



6 9 



I dismounted as the Emperor drove off, and the 
Grand Duke beckoned to me, took my arm, and 
walked a few steps to one side, saying in English, 
" Come, tell me what is this ? " It seemed that I 
was the first officer to arrive from that part of the 
field which I had witnessed. I told him, in short, 
what I had seen — that the assault had been most 
gallant, but had totally failed ; that the losses could 
not be less than twenty-five per cent. ; that the fail- 
ure was due to a lack of ensemble in the attacks ; and 
that everything was now quiet, the Turks making 
no signs of taking the offensive. He listened in- 
tently, asking a few questions, and then, noticing 
that his staff had gathered around us, terminated 
the conversation by remarking, " Beautiful evening, 
is it not?" (the rain had just begun falling rapidly) 
and moved off. 

Near by were a dozen carriages belonging to the 
Grand Duke and some of his staff. The rest of the 
officers and the headquarter escort had nothing but 
their overcoats. Some Cossacks were sent off to 
the stacks of grain piled on the sides of the hill, and 
bringing it in, they made a bonfire, and we gathered 
around it. At that time the news from the Krishin 
redoubt was that three desperate assaults had been 
made by the Roumanians, assisted by a Russian 
brigade, and that all three had been repulsed with 
great loss. From the center, the news was what we 



Army Life in Russia. 



have seen. From Skobeleff, away off on the ex- 
treme left, the latest information was several hours 
old ; it was to the effect that he had carried one of 
the redoubts near the town on the Lovtcha road, 
but the fighting was still going on unabated, and 
the result could not be predicted. On all sides 
there was nearly the same sad story of defeat. It 
was a gloomy evening ; the air was cold, and full of 
a sharp, fine rain. We were most of us wet through, 
and, more depressing than all, in those cornfields 
and vineyards between us and the town lay the fifty 
thousand or more men who had passed through the 
fiery furnace of to-day's battle, and who had done 
their duty in it so loyally, though with so little suc- 
cess — many of them lay dead, others in agony long- 
ing for death, and the rest in their troubled sleep 
thanking God that this day was over and they still 
lived, but wondering whether they would be able to 
say as much twenty-four hours hence. 

As we sat chattering around the fire, the sound 
of a horse on a hard gallop through the mud was 
heard, and in a minute there jumped into the group 
Genghis Khan, a major-general in the Emperor's 
suite,- and descendant of the famous conqueror of 
the thirteenth century — a great, burly, good-natured 
creature, with high cheek-bones and black hair and 
beard, almost a perfect type of the Tartar as de- 
picted in the child's geography. He had been sent 



Plevna. 



71 



to learn something of the course of events near the 
center of the line, and in returning past the village 
of Krishin he had nearly galloped over a man in the 
road, who told him he was carrying a message to a 
brigade commander for more troops to garrison the 
Krishin redoubt ; that the redoubt was actually 
taken, and he had himself been in it ! This tale 
was listened to with wide-open mouths and eyes 
and ears. Two officers were immediately sent off 
to verify the report ; they went splashing away 
through the mud and darkness, and were soon out 
of hearing. 

Then the Grand Duke stepped over to Prince 
Charles's carriage, woke him up, told him the news, 
and suggested certain orders for the Roumanian 
troops, insisting that this or that should be attended 
to in order that the redoubt might be held when 
day broke and the Turks tried to regain it. 

Before the Roumanian officers rushing off with 
these orders were out of sound, up dashed another 
major-general named Stroukoff, a handsome young 
fellow of thirty-two, with long blonde mustaches. 
He had been sent to the Krishin troops for news 
before dark, and had entered the great redoubt with 
them. He had been riding post-haste to bring the 
news, but had lost his way in the darkness, and so 
Genghis, with his second-hand account, had arrived 
first. Stroukoff corroborated all that Genghis had 



72 



Army Life in Russia. 



told, and gave the details of the final capture of the 
redoubt just after dark ; the Turks had fought to 
the last with curses of defiance, refusing to surren- 
der, and the last remnant of the little garrison had 
perished by the bayonet. 

The fate of the Krishin redoubt being settled, at 
least till morning, the Grand Duke prepared to go 
to sleep — it was between ten and eleven o'clock — 
leaving word that the first messenger from Skobeleff 
should come to him immediately upon his arrival. 
There were about a dozen carriages here, belonging 
to the Grand Duke and the more important mem- 
bers of his staff ; the horses were unharnessed and 
hitched to the poles, the curtains and boots were 
unrolled and fastened together, making very pass- 
able places for a nap. Others lay on the ground 
under the carriages, and the rest found what shelter 
they could. For myself, I picked out a place not 
far from the fire, where a small bush formed a par- 
tial protection against the piercing cold wind and 
mist. I had no cover with me but a ten-ounce 
mackintosh overcoat, and I wrapped this round my 
shoulders, though with no particular object, for they 
were thoroughly wet. I soon found I had made a 
bad selection, being directly in the line between the 
embers of the fire and the carriages. After three or 
four men, with their big boots and spurs and sabers, 
had fallen over me, I concluded to change, and 



Plevna. 



73 



found a more quiet place, although it was openly 
exposed to the cutting wind. 

In this dismal situation we struggled for a few 
winks of sleep throughout the long hours of the 
cold night. Toward morning it cleared, with a 
high wind, and the stars came out, and just at day- 
break several wagons drove up with food from the 
Grand Duke's commissariat. There was bread, cold 
mutton, a few eggs, and a great brass "samovar" 
five feet high and holding sixty gallons. We were 
soon drinking tea by the quart and devouring cold 
mutton by the pound, few of us having had any- 
thing to eat in nearly twenty-four hours. Our stiff 
joints and rheumatic backs began to loosen and 
lubricate, and our spirits rose accordingly. The 
sun soon rose bright and clear, disclosing the whole 
field and drying our clothes. Smoke could be seen 
rising from the woods of Skobeleffs position on the 
extreme left, about six miles from us in a straight 
line over the heads of the Turks; there was also 
some firing going on around the Krishin redoubt. 
Word had been received during the night from 
Skobeleff explaining his precarious position, and 
answer was sent back to him at seven A. M. to re- 
treat slowly, for no reinforcements could be sent to 
him. 

About eight o'clock the Emperor and his suite 
drove up, and we all rode forward about half a mile 
4 



74 



Army Life in Russia. 



to the point of the hill, and there strained our eyes 
through the glasses trying to make out what was 
going on with Skobeleff, away off on the other side 
of Plevna. W e could plainly see two dark lines of 
troops hotly engaged and moving backward and 
forward, but, being ignorant of the details of the 
topography of that vicinity, and almost equally 
ignorant of the actual course of events in Skobe- 
leff's command, we could not make out anything 
definite as to what was going on, or even which side 
was Russian and which Turkish troops. I stepped 
over to General Levitzky, the assistant chief of 
staff, and discussed with him the probabilities as to 
which was which. He knew no more about it than 
I did. We could only see that a very hot fight was 
going on. We watched it for two or three hours, 
and then the Emperor mounted and rode back to 
the site of our bivouac of the night before. About 
noon a lunch was served of cold meats and pre- 
serves, bread, biscuits, and an abundance of claret 
and champagne. An improvised table was set up 
for the Emperor, his brother, his nephew, the Duke 
of Leuchtenberg, Prince Charles of Roumania, old 
Prince Suwaroff, and the Minister of War. The rest 
of us, numbering nearly a hundred in all, squatted 
about on the ground, — but the lunch was very good. 
After it was over the improvised table was used for 
a council of war, in which the Emperor, the Grand 



Plevna. 



Duke, the Prince of Roumania, the Minister of 
War, the chief of staff, his assistant, and the chief 
of staff of Prince Charles, all took part. It lasted 
during the greater part of the afternoon. The air 
was warm and sunny, and we sat about in groups 
chatting and enjoying the balmy air as at a picnic 
in early spring. Meanwhile, the smoke was still 
curling up from the woods over where Skobeleff's 
troops were, and we could just distinguish the noise 
of their musketry fife. We did not know it, but 
just then his terrible two-days' fight, in which he 
lost eight thousand men out of eighteen thousand, 
was culminating, and he was beginning to withdraw 
as best he could the remnants of his troops. The 
council finally broke up late in the afternoon, and 
the Emperor drove off. It was told to us, in gen- 
eral terms, that it had been determined to make no 
more assaults on this position which had already 
cost the Russians thirty thousand men, but to re- 
main in statu quo, fortify their own positions against 
any counter-attack, and await the arrival of the 
re-enforcements which were already en route from 
Russia. Upon their arrival the place would be 
regularly invested and besieged, if the Turks did 
not meantime evacuate it. 

So ended this memorable assault, — at least the 
acute part of it. Its effects, — the long lines of 
creaking little carts, which could be seen any day 



7 6 



Army Life in Russia. 



for a week afterward carrying men groaning with 
wounds to the Danube, — the unburied dead which 
lay in plain sight in front of the Turkish redoubts 
for the next three weeks, until the terrible stench 
compelled the Turks, in self-defense, to throw a few 
spadefuls of earth over them ; these and other 
horrors, necessary and unnecessary, I have no desire 
to dilate upon. 

On the ioth of December Plevna fell. On that 
day Osman Pasha found his provisions reduced to 
but a few days' supply, and saw that the place which 
he had so gallantly and stubbornly, though perhaps 
unadvisedly, defended for nearly five long months, 
was at last doomed to fall through starvation. But 
he would make no tame surrender, like Bazaine and 
Pemberton, of mere hungry mouths; if perish it 
must, his army should perish in the hot blood of 
battle. Massing all his troops during the night, he 
broke forth at daylight, striving to pierce the 
Russian lines on the west side and escape to the 
Balkans. It was one of the maddest, fiercest, least 
hopeful onslaughts ever made ; it swept over the first 
two Russian lines like a whirlwind, and was barely 
checked at the third and last. But once checked, 
the Russians closed in on every side, and by noon 
Osman was wounded and his army was a mass of 
angry, stupefied human beings, without cohesion 



Plevna. 



77 



and without leaders. A few hours later it marched 
back with sullen faces within its own lines, laid down 
its arms in the ditches along the road, and became 
a mere herd of ill-fed, ill-clothed prisoners of war. 

I was not at Plevna on the ioth. Sharing the 
feeling then current that the siege might last for 
several months, and weary of walking through the 
muddy trenches and conning for the thousandth 
time with field-glasses the outlines of the Turkish 
redoubts, I had joined General Gourko, who was 
leading a detachment of about forty thousand men 
into the Balkans, near Sophia, to prevent any re-en- 
forcements or supplies from coming to Plevna. 
Hearing of the surrender by the field telegraph, I 
rode back as rapidly as possible, and reached Plevna 
about noon on the 13th. The burying-parties were 
still busy on various parts of the field. At the first 
one I met, an officer of the grenadiers was seated 
on the ground eating a few bits of hard bread and 
sausage for lunch. A dozen yards from him was a 
trench sixty feet long and twelve feet wide about 
half full of bodies. The men of his detachment 
were moving over the field, picking up the dead 
Russians, straightening them out, and rolling them 
up in their overcoats ; they were then brought to 
the trench and dropped in it with some uniformity, 
heads and feet alternating, like sardines in a box. 
When about two hundred had been put in the trench, 



78 



Army Life in Russia. 



it was filled over with earth, a short service read by 
the chaplain, and a good many signs of the cross 
made by the men ; a rude wooden cross, with two 
cross-pieces, after the fashion of the Greek Church, 
was then placed over it, and the burial was over. 
So fared the dead Russians. For the Turks the 
process was somewhat abridged : the little batteries 
and trenches which covered the field, and whose 
parapets bore the footprints of many a fierce hand- 
to-hand fight three days before, were now utilized 
for graves ; the Turkish bodies were first stripped of 
their clothing for immediate use, it being in many 
instances superior to what the Russians had them- 
selves, and they were then dragged to the nearest 
battery and tumbled headlong into the ditch. There 
the naked bodies lay, their arms and legs tangled in 
inextricable confusion, reminding one of Dore's 
illustrations of " The Inferno." When the ditch 
was nearly full the loose earth was shoveled down 
from the parapet to cover the bodies, and the cere- 
mony was complete. 

I had been riding over the field among these 
scenes, gleaning as much as possible from the sur- 
vivors of the events of the battle, and had grown 
somewhat hardened to the sickening sight, when 
suddenly, on passing near a ditch full of naked 
bodies, my horse plunged violently and stood 
quivering and snorting with fear. Among the 



Plevna. 



79 



corpses was a living man; his head and one arm 
only were visible among the tangled mass of bodies 
and legs ; his face was purple, and he was already 
so far gone as to be speechless ; with his hand he 
beckoned very faintly to me to come near, and in 
his face and eyes there was the most ghastly death- 
agony I have ever witnessed. I called a passing 
soldier to bring some water ; he replied he had seen 
none since early morning ; there was none on the 
field nearer than the river, two versts off ; my own 
brandy-flask and cigarette-case I had emptied a few 
minutes before among a group of wounded. There 
was nothing to be done for this poor fellow, and I 
moved on ; he was probably dead before many 
minutes. For all the volumes that have been 
written in all the ages of the horrors of the battle- 
field after the battle, how little do they or can they 
portray its reality ! 

War is at best brutal and brutifying ; in the 
midst of it men are too busy with the object to be 
attained to have any time for human sentiment, and 
they think of their fellow-men as mere units, like 
horses, guns, muskets, and wagons. Afterward, 
when the brain is less heated, its daily events group 
themselves together in the memory like a confused 
and unreal nightmare, of which some more than 
usually vivid scenes are the only tangible features. 

The next day the Emperor came over to the field 



8o 



Army Life in Russia. 



to review the troops, thank them for their victory, 
and take leave of them prior to his departure for 
St. Petersburg. From the Grand Duke's head-quar- 
ters, at Bogot, to the battle-field, near Dolni-Etro- 
pol, the distance was fully fifteen miles. It was a 
cold, drizzling day, and I gladly accepted the invi- 
tation of one of my colleagues to take a seat in his 
barouche and send my horse on ahead by an orderly. 

The scene in the town of Plevna just after the 
surrender defies all description. The lack of ready 
wit of the Russian Tchinovniks, the total want of 
transport and medical service of the Turks, the vast 
numbers of sick which had accumulated during the 
bad weather of the last few weeks of the siege, the 
vile, filthy streets of the dirty little Turkish town, 
all combined to make up a scene whose like I doubt 
has been witnessed since the plagues of the middle 
ages. You could barely open a door on any street 
without the chance of stumbling over two or three 
corpses in the hall,- — men who had crept in there to 
die of their fevers. The yards of the houses pre- 
sented nearly the same spectacle ; no sanitary pre- 
cautions seemed to have been taken, and the yards 
and streets were one foul mass of filth and mud, 
which combined with the stench of dead bodies to 
make the place a vast pest-house. Many of the 
houses had been destroyed by the bombardment ; 
all those belonging to Turks had been deserted by 



Plevna. 



81 



their owners. The streets were filled as in a mass- 
meeting, — Bulgarians, Russian soldiers, creaking 
carts full of wounded, supply-wagons, artillery -wag- 
ons, horsemen, all blocking one another's way with- 
out order or direction. It seemed as if Pandemo- 
nium had settled down in the mud of this filthy 
village. On this day two long rows of gendarmes 
lined the streets, shunting every vehicle or being 
into the nearest by-way or yard, and keeping a sin- 
gle, continuous passage open for the carriages of 
the Emperor and his suite. As we emerged from 
the farther end of the village we came upon another 
striking scene ; it was a collection of not less than 
twelve hundred carts, each with a pair of uncouth 
buffaloes tiedto the end of the pole, and all crowded 
into a space so small that it was barely possible for 
a person to thread his way on foot between them. 
In this caravan were all the camp-followers of 
Osman's army and the Mohammedan inhabitants 
of the town. They had been brought together by 
Osman, with orders to follow his troops the moment 
he should break the Russian lines. Here they had 
been for four days. Standing like a fringe along 
the front were the men, dressed in every variety of 
gayly-colored and picturesque Oriental costume, 
staring in silence at us as we passed, with stolid 
indifference or sullen defiance on their faces ; be- 
hind them, peering from under the covers of the 
4* 



82 



Army Life in Russia. 



carts or playing about the wheels, were the women, 
dressed in blue or yellow gowns, the " yashmak " 
tightly drawn over their faces, and the children 
laughing or gaping with wonder as they toddled 
about in their striped baggy trousers. 

Across the river, on the wide plain where the bat- 
tle had been fought, were the prisoners, herded 
together like cattle, in three great herds, about ten 
thousand in each, and a line of Russian sentries 
around the outer edge. The Russians had not 
tents or blankets enough for themselves, the Turks 
had none whatever, and the miserable town afforded 
no facilities for shelter ; there seemed to be no way 
to guard them but 'the way that we saw. We had 
arrived an hour or more before the time fixed for 
the Emperor, and I passed the interval wandering 
through the midst of the herds of prisoners. More 
than half of them were hearty, stout-looking fel- 
lows, with deep, broad chests, and well-knit muscu- 
lar frames ; among the others were many whose 
emaciated and sallow faces told of the bad food and 
suffering in the trenches. Not a few were crouched 
on the ground, shivering with the cold wind and the 
still colder hand of death which was beginning to 
rest upon them. For clothing, every man wore the 
Turkish fez, and a majority had a rather shoddy 
overcoat with a capote ; further than that there was 
no uniformity, the dress being of every variety from 



Plevna. 



83 



the rudest of homespun to a handsome suit of stout 
blue cloth, cut a la Zouave, and adorned with red or 
yellow trimmings. They were badly shod, great 
numbers of them having no other protection for the 
feet and ankles but raw hide tied with strings. The 
expression of these men was, as a rule, frank and 
gentle ; but there were many scowling, defiant, and 
savage faces. I found a few who could speak some 
words of French, enough to tell me that they had 
not tasted food since the morning of the battle, 
four days before ; they had been all this time 
herded in the open as now, their position being 
moved once in twenty-four hours to avoid the 
accumulated filth, and to give an opportunity to 
bury those who had died meantime. 

The Emperor arrived about one o'clock. The 
troops formed for review consisted of the corps of 
grenadiers, three brigades of Roumanians, a division 
of cavalry, and one hundred and eighty guns — 
about fifty thousand men in all. They were drawn 
up, about half a mile from the herds of prisoners, in 
the usual Russian fashion — the cavalry on the flanks, 
the infantry in a line of battalion masses (double 
column of platoons on the center), and the artillery 
in rear of the infantry. Even in this compact for- 
mation the troops of the three arms covered a space 
over a mile long and half a mile deep. The review 
was conducted in the customary form. The com- 



8 4 



Army Life in Russia. 



manding general — in this case the Grand Duke 
Nicholas — took his position on the right of the line, 
with his staff immediately in rear of him. As the 
Emperor and his suite approached, the Grand Duke 
galloped out alone to meet him, saluted, and handed 
him the consolidated report of the troops present. 
The Emperor then rode along the front of the line, 
the Grand Duke's staff joining in the suite, swelling 
its numbers to nearly three hundred. As he ap- 
proached each regiment the men presented arms 
and the officers saluted, all turning their heads 
toward him and watching him with the most intense 
interest. He then wished the men good-morning 
in the usual manner, and they returned his saluta- 
tion as the regimental band struck up the national 
hymn — an air whose grand harmony is long remem- 
bered by those who have heard it. The men kept 
up an uninterrupted series of hurrahs so long as the 
Emperor remained in their front. Now and then 
the Emperor stopped to call out some soldier wear- 
ing the St. George's Cross, and ask him to relate 
the circumstances under which he had gained it. 
The answers were usually brief and modest, and 
the Emperor would compliment him at the end 
with " Tee molodetz ! " — " Thou art a fine fellow ! " 
and the man would grasp his hand, his sleeve, his 
skirts, and cover them with kisses, often dropping 
his musket in the confusion of a moment which he 



Plevna. 



85 



would remember to the last day of his life, and 
which he considered ample reward for any sacrifice 
or risk of life. Opposite the regiments of Siberia 
and Little Russia, which had borne the fiercest part 
of the Turkish assault, the Emperor stopped and 
called the officers about him to make a short speech 
of a few appropriate words, telling them their regi- 
ment had earned its place in Russian history, and 
would henceforth carry the colors of St. George en- 
twined on its standards. It was more than an hour 
before the Emperor had finished riding down the 
line of infantry, and thence back to the other flank 
and down the lines of batteries, each of which was 
saluted in turn by name. Then the Emperor took 
position in front, and the troops filed past him, con- 
suming something more than another hour. The 
infantry went past in company fronts (two hundred 
men each), and to those who preserved a good 
alignment the Emperor shouted, " Koroshoh ! " 
" Very well ! " to which the men yelled back, 
" Otchen radom, Vass Imperatorsky Veleetchest- 
vo ! " " We're glad to serve your Majesty ! " Each 
regiment, after filing past, returned directly to its 
own quarters, and then the Emperor and suite rode 
back to their carriages and returned in them, giving 
their saddle-horses to their orderlies. 

One often sees reviews, — the hopeful, bright re- 
cruits setting out for the war, the saddened veter- 



86 



Army Life in Russia. 



ans returning with thinned ranks, — reviews at great 
ceremonies, reviews for mere inspection or drill. 
They do not vary greatly in different countries; 
the men are usually dressed in their best, their arms 
are bright, the ground is well selected, the move- 
ments are precise, the scene is brilliant. But it is 
rare that they have an air of reality about them ; 
the most they tell of actual war is occasionally 
some reference to their fallen comrades, such as 
leaving gaps in the ranks where they had stood. 
But this review was none of these. It was a review 
of the survivors of a battle fought but four days be- 
fore, and it was held on the very ground where they 
had fought, and in full sight of the men they had 
conquered. It seemed to me to be most intensely 
dramatic, and full of a vivid savagery, which had 
nothing in common with the grand march of 
Grant's and Sherman's armies along Pennsylvania 
Avenue in April, 1865, but rather to recall the 
stories of the old Roman triumphs, where the con- 
quered were dragged through the streets chained to 
the chariot wheels. It represented all that there is 
in the pomp and circumstance of glorious war — 
and all its emptiness. Here were fifty thousand 
men, victors in a great battle, shivering, with their 
gaping boots in the mud, but shouting themselves 
hoarse at the sight of their beloved Emperor, who 
typified to them all they had fought for; over 



Plevna. 



87 



yonder, listening to their shouts, were herds of 
disorganized men, the remnants of soldiers who 
had but a few hours before met them in fierce fight, 
but who now had no shouting to do, no commenda- 
tion to receive, no future, but a dull blank in their 
minds ; no feelings but suppressed rage, alternating 
with the gnawings of hunger; and between the two 
groups lay the carcasses of horses, pieces of cloth- 
ing, parts of belts and cartridge-boxes, broken am- 
munition and wheels, and all the numerous odds 
and ends which lie strewn on every battle-field, 
including here and there a dead man who had 
escaped the notice of the burying-parties. Yet the 
two enemies, the victors and the vanquished, have 
an almost equal claim to every soldier's admiration ; 
without stopping to inquire into the justice of the 
causes for which they respectively fought, or into 
the errors which their commanders had made, but 
thinking merely of the great mass of the soldiers 
on either side, one can only recall that in the histor- 
ical drama of Plevna which this day's review closed, 
both sides had shown qualities of endurance and 
devotion, of daring spirit and dogged courage, of 
faithful obedience and cheerful sacrifice, of all those 
soldierly qualities which in all the ages have com- 
manded the admiration of men. But one quality 
had they lacked — that of mercy to their fallen foes 
— and in a war of religious fanaticism perhaps this 
could hardly be expected. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE WINTER CAMPAIGN. 

With the fall of Plevna and the capture of 
Osman's army it was thought that the backbone 
of the Turkish resistance was broken, but it was 
only a few days before every one knew that there 
was to be no rest in the campaign. Orders were 
immediately issued sending the troops who had 
blockaded Plevna to one or the other of the 
advanced guards in the Balkans, and at the end 
of a week they were all in motion. Every one 
obeyed cheerfully, nobody knowing what would 
come of it, but nine out of ten believing it 
could only result in terrible disaster, to be brought 
about by lack of food and extreme suffering from 
cold. These views were only confirmed by a 
change in the weather, which hitherto had been raw 
and wet, with occasional snows, but now suddenly 
changed to a temperature of about zero Fahrenheit, 
accompanied by a raging snow-storm of three days' 
duration. Everything was frozen solid, the roads 
became beds of ice, the animals staggered and fell 

dead with cold, and the men huddled together in 

88 



The Winter Campaign. 



8 9 



silence, shivering in their ragged clothing which had 
not been renewed since summer. 

I left Plevna and the Grand Duke's head-quar- 
ters on the 20th of December, two days after the 
departure of the ninth corps, which had been 
detailed to General Gourko at the Orkhanie Pass. 
I intended to overtake these troops on the road, 
and follow the campaign with General Gourko's 
army. At the close of a long day's ride the storm 
increased in severity, and I was preparing to leave 
the road and seek shelter for the night in a village 
bivouac, whose smoke I could see not far off, when 
a weird picture attracted my attention just in front 
of me. Alone in the road, without a human being 
in sight, stood a company wagon heavily loaded 
with the men's rations ; the ground was frozen hard 
beneath it and covered with snow on all sides ; the 
snow was driving, furiously through the air, and the 
eye could penetrate its mass but a short distance ; 
against this white background stood the black 
silhouette of the middle horse of the " troika"; the 
other two lay dead and stiff at his feet on either 
side, and he alone was still standing, gaunt and 
feeble, swaying backward and forward in sad and 
terrible silence before the blasts of the storm, and 
waiting, half insensible, his turn to fall. 

I found refuge for the night with a captain of a 
" park " of reserve artillery ammunition which was 



90 



Army Life in Russia. 



bivouacked in the village. He occupied one room 
of a little hut, the other being filled with a family 
of some ten or twelve Bulgarians, of both sexes and 
various ages. His reception was in unison with 
that which I invariably received from every one of 
his class, and the open-hearted warmth of which I 
was often puzzled to account for. He spoke but a 
few words of French and German, barely more than 
the few phrases of Russian which I had by that 
time acquired, but it was enough for him to under- 
stand that I was an American. Everything was 
immediately placed at my disposal : my horses had 
the best stalls in the wretched little stable, and 
plenty of forage to eat ; the samovar was immedi- 
ately set boiling for tea ; whatever meat he had was 
at once put to cooking; his little flask of brandy 
was half drained to warm my chilled stomach ; his 
chest was opened to take out the one or two delica- 
cies which he possessed in the way of food ; his one 
knife and fork were cleaned for my use ; his servant 
was called a fool and a blockhead for not being 
quicker with the supper; his few St. Petersburg 
cigarettes were forced upon me ; and when it was 
time to go to bed he insisted long and urgently, 
though I would not yield, that I should sleep on his 
camp-bed while he took the mud floor. 

In the morning, he was equally urgent that I 
should take the greater part of the half-dozen cans 



The Winter Campaign. 



91 



of potted meats which he possessed, on the ground 
that I would need them out in the storm, while he 
might remain where he was for ten days or more. 
In a word, everything that was possible was done to 
make us change places for the night, — he to become 
the ill-provided traveler, and I the comparatively 
comfortable lodger in a house, such as it was. I 
never saw this man before nor after the one night I 
passed with him, yet, had I been his foster-brother 
and playmate from childhood, now rejoining him 
after a long absence, he could not have done more 
for me. The same thing happened to me on dozens 
of occasions, and as I found that more than once, 
when I was mistaken for an English officer or cor- 
respondent, my reception was very cold, I at last 
became convinced that all this kindness was due to 
my nationality. It is a fact, strange as it may ap- 
pear to some people, that there exists throughout 
the length and breadth of Russia a sentimental 
attachment for Americans, of the depth of which 
we have very little conception at home. The policy 
of the rulers of Russia, from the time of Catherine 
to the present, has been one of uniform and un- 
broken friendship for the United States ; this is a 
well-known fact in politics, and people account for 
it on the ground of self-interest, or of genuine ad- 
miration, according to their political opinions. But 
what is not generally known is the fact that this 



9 2 



Army Life in Russia. 



friendly feeling permeates all classes of society, and 
is far more firmly rooted in those portions of the 
community which never see St. Petersburg than it 
is in the more cosmopolitan court circles of that 
capital. It is of no use to argue that the feeling is 
superficial, that it has no substantial foundation, 
that the political customs and the habits of the 
people of the two countries are diametrically op- 
posed, and that they have no interests in common. 
The feeling does exist, and it is a very strong one. 
Certain reasons maybe given for it, which, although 
at first sight they may appear insufficient and super- 
ficial, have nevertheless a great deal of force. Re- 
moteness and the lack of clashing interests are, no 
doubt, among the prime causes, coupled with the 
fact that Russian interests do clash so constantly 
with those of other European nations ; in addition 
to this, there are elements of sympathy in the fact 
of mere geographical bigness, Russia and the United 
States standing first among civilized nations in point 
of continuous territory and number of inhabitants 
of one race ; each of us is sensitive to foreign criti- 
cism, and each, while conscious of its own strength, 
has felt the sneers of other countries ; but, above 
all, Russia has come to look upon itself as the invet- 
erate and eternal enemy of England, and it rightly 
judges us to be the natural rival of England in all 
those elements of commercial success which have 



The Winter Campaign. 



93 



ade her present greatness. Russia looks to see 
England decline as we advance, and this decline she 
considers her greatest advantage. A wide-spread 
illusion also exists, which I never succeeded in dis- 
pelling with any one with whom I conversed, that 
the minute England becomes involved in war we 
ill destroy her commerce by precisely those means 
hich certain Englishmen employed in our hour of 
rouble to destroy ours. Our feelings and probable 
ction in the event of England being involved in a 
ontinental war are more correctly appreciated at 
t. Petersburg, but in the country at large — as rep- 
resented by the army officers — the opinion is uni- 
versal that we would at once send out cruisers to 
depredate on English commerce the moment Eng- 
land's fleet was occupied elsewhere. Both being 
enemies, the Russians argue, of the same power, we 
must naturally be friends of each other. 

One other incident, which is almost forgotten at 
home, made a deep and lasting impression in Rus- 
sia; this was the mission of Mr. Fox in 1867. The 
sending of a fleet of vessels, partly composed of 
monitors, which had proved their merit in action at 
home, but had never before been seen in European 
waters, to convey an embassador bearing a special 
message from the whole American people, as repre- 
sented in Congress, of good-will to the Russian 
people and hearty congratulations on the escape of 



94 



Army Life in Russia. 



their emperor from assassination — all this had a 
flavor of generous sentiment in it peculiarly accept- 
able to the people of Moscow and " old Russians " 
generally. The fame of this mission penetrated to 
the ends of the empire, and consolidated a friend- 
ship which has been growing for years, and the very 
inertness of the Russians, which prevents them 
from receiving a new idea every day, makes them 
hold very fast to those they do receive and accept. 

I left my generous host early the next morning, 
and making my way through the storm, arrived two 
days afterward at General Gourko's head-quarters, 
on the northern slope of the Balkans, near Ork- 
hanie. The troops destined to re-enforce his army 
arrived the same day, and on the next the orders 
were issued for the advance. The following day, 
Christmas morning, in intense cold and in the midst 
of a dense, impenetrable fog of particles of ice, the 
Russians set out to cross the Balkans. The troops 
found almost insuperable obstacles in dragging their 
guns up the steep, icy slopes of the narrow road 
which had been made over the mountain to enable 
them to turn the position of the Turks in their front. 
The guns had to be taken apart and dragged piece- 
meal by ropes up the mountain, and late that eve- 
ning, at the time when it was intended that more 
than half of the troops should have been at the 
southern outlets of the mountain passes, not a gun 



The Winter Campaign. 



95 



had reached the summit. The position was a pre- 
carious one ; the troops were spread out over an 
immense length, and there was the greatest danger 
that the movement would be revealed to the Turks 
and might be wholly aborted by flank attacks as 
the isolated detachments should reach the south- 
ern valleys. At nightfall, General Gourko reached 
the summit and lay down in the snow for a little 
rest, thoroughly harassed by the anxieties of the 
moment. It was one of those critical periods when 
success or failure hang in the balance, and the gene- 
ral's impatience knew no bounds, as successive 
reports came to him of the difficulties and delays 
which the different columns met with. After ad- 
miring- the magnificent view which was disclosed 
from the top of the mountain, at the base of which 
lay the broad plain of Sophia, clad in snow, but dot- 
ted here and there with the numerous dark clusters 
of huts and curling smoke of the villages, I declined 
an invitation to pass the night on the mountain, 
and determined to push forward to a regiment 
which held the outposts in the valley below. Sev- 
eral hours after nightfall, when I was beginning 
to fear I had wholly lost my road and was 
wandering into the Turkish lines, as I once did at 
Plevna, I stumbled upon the village where the 
Russians were bivouacked ; applying at once at the 
first hut, I was received with the usual cordiality by 



9 6 



Army Life in Russia. 



the half-dozen officers quartered in it, and was 
immediately offered more than my share of what- 
ever creature comforts they possessed. 

While the troops were slowly dragging themselves 
and their guns over the mountain range, I took ad- 
vantage of the delay to pass a day or two with the 
brigade of Caucasian Cossacks, who were employed 
in scouting and skirmishing with the Turks in the 
valley of Sophia. These men are of an entirely dif- 
ferent type from the Russians proper. They come 
from the mountains and valleys of the Caucasus, not 
very far from that portion of the earth which is 
spoken of as the cradle of the human race, and they 
are of a remarkably pure Caucasian type — ruddy 
complexion, dark hair and eyes, short black beards, 
and compact, well-knit frames; their wild, pictur- 
esque costume consists of a black, woolly, sheep- 
skin hat, one or two long tunics coming to their 
heels, the inner one of red or black silk and. the 
outer of brown woolen cloth, a pair of trowsers, and 
low boots outside of them. The tunic is gathered 
in at the waist by a very narrow belt of leather, or- 
namented with silver worked in enamel ; the scim- 
itar-like sword is hung by a similar piece of leather 
passing over one shoulder, and over the other hangs 
the carbine, in a sheath of sheep-skin ; on each breast 
are half a dozen cases for cartridges. Their horses 
are the counterpart of themselves — short, thick-set, 



The Winter Campaign. 



97 



extremely hardy, and very intelligent. The men are 
wonderfully bold riders, though their seat and ap- 
pearance — with short stirrups and high saddles — 
have little in common with what we are accustomed 
to call good horsemanship. 

These people differ as much from the Russians in 
their character as in their appearance. Though 
among the most faithful of the Tsar's subjects, they 
are all Mohammedans, understand but very little of 
the Russian language, are very quick-sighted and 
self-reliant, never at a loss to take care of them- 
selves, and render the best service when left to their 
own resources. They are a species of amiable bar- 
barians, devoted to their friends and absolutely re- 
lentless to their foes ; they talk but little among 
themselves, have a serious expression of counte- 
nance, rarely smile, and do not sing except when 
they give themselves up to a dance around a camp- 
fire, which bears a strong resemblance to the sun 
dances of our Indians, although the motions are 
more varied and graceful. They have little of the 
regular discipline of European troops, though they 
are by no means disorderly, and they love nothing so 
much as danger and wild adventure for its own sake. 

The brigade was bivouacked in one of the little 
villages of the Sophia plain when I joined it, just at 
daylight, a day or two after Christmas. The village 
was wrapped in snow, and showed no sign whatever 
5 



9 8 



Army Life in Russia, 



of the thousand men who were hid in it, except that 
a good many horses were in the yards of the huts. 
I found the hut of the commandant, who was just 
rolling out of his blankets, and refreshed myself 
with a few glasses of the customary hot tea. Half 
an hour afterward the men were in motion, and 
moved out through the deep snow toward the town 
of Sophia, to reconnoiter the strength of the Turks at 
that place. As they passed from one to another of 
the villages, where no Russians had previously been 
seen, the Bulgarians met them in large numbers at 
the entrance of each, usually preceded by their 
priests bearing a cross and the elders of the village 
bringing salt and bread. At their approach they 
bowed their heads to the ground and cried " Wel- 
come, welcome," and then rushed up to kiss their 
hands or clothes. Whatever knowledge they had 
concerning the Turks was cheerfully given (though 
their reports were often unintelligible and contra- 
dictory), and their ample provisions of grain, bread, 
geese, and poultry were freely placed at the disposal 
of the Russians. But as they saw that the latter 
did not remain, their enthusiasm cooled most de- 
cidedly, as they remembered that to-morrow might 
bring a body of Turks back upon them. 

As the Cossacks approached one village, they were 
received with a few shots coming from behind the 
hedges. The column was halted and some skir- 



The Winter Campaign. 



99 



mishers thrown out, who reported a body of Turk- 
ish infantry in the village, engaged in crossing a deep 
little stream which was covered with a thin coating 
of ice, not strong enough to bear a horse. Those 
of the Turks who had already passed were drawn up 
in line on the opposite bank, and as the Cossacks 
could only approach the ford through a narrow 
street they were at a considerable disadvantage, 
considering that their object was merely a recon- 
naissance, and nothing was to be gained by losing 
forty or fifty men. So they only skirmished with 
the Turks for half an hour, when all the latter being 
across the stream, they broke into a double-quick on 
the road to Sophia. The Cossacks put after them, 
but the ford was very narrow, and it was some time 
before they were over ; the Turks got a start of a 
good half-mile, and as soon as the Cossacks came 
near them they stopped long enough to give them 
a warm fire and then ran on. The Cossacks could 
easily have caught them on the road, which was 
firm and hard, but would have lost thirty or forty 
men in doing so, and there was no object in it, as it 
was only a small force of five hundred or six hun- 
dred men retreating from an outpost in the mount- 
ains. Then the Cossacks tried to go around and get 
ahead of them, but the deep soft snow in the fields 
made their progress slower than that of the Turks. 
So they merely kept up the chase for three or four 



IOO 



Army Life in Russia. 



miles, until they came to the main high-road at a 
point where it crossed a considerable stream about 
three miles in front of Sophia. The Turks got 
safely across the bridge, and then the Cossacks 
were saluted by a fine, rattling fusilade extending 
over a length of about a quarter of a mile of the 
opposite bank of the stream, and they saw a regi- 
ment or more of Tcherkesses - * deploy on the op- 
posite bank. Here they were in full sight of the 
town, and the officers had a good opportunity to 
sketch the position of its fortifications, so the Cos- 
sacks fell back to about 1200 yards and, spreading 
out over a long line, kept up a good skirmish fire. 
A curious and very interesting incident now oc- 
curred. The Cossacks sat there exchanging shots 
for nearly an hour, and while with my glasses I 
could plainly see many a Turk knocked out of his 
saddle by the Russian Berdans, not a man on the 
Russian side was hit, and not a bullet was heard to 
whistle. The Tcherkesses were armed with the 
Winchester repeating carbine, which only carried 
about 800 to 900 yards, and the Cossacks were 
wholly out of range ! A week later another skirmish 
took place at the same locality. This time it was 
the main body of Gourko's troops forcing their 
way to Sophia ; they met with resistance at this 
same bridge, and a smart skirmish took place, last- 

* Caucasian cavalry in the Turkish service. 



The Whiter Campaign. ioi 

ing about an hour, and costing the Russians fifty or 
sixty men. On this occasion I was with General 
Gourko's staff, and we stood watching the fight on 
a tumulus about three hundred yards in rear of the 
place where I had been before ; this time the bullets 
flew fast and thick, and a few horses in our group 
were wounded ; but now it was Turkish infantry 
opposed to us, armed with the Peabody-Martini 
rifle, a splendid weapon which carries with deadly 
effect to 2,000 yards. 

As the sun began to go down the Cossacks grad- 
ually withdrew, having gained as much information 
as was possible with their force. Along the road 
were the evidences of an affair in which these same 
troops had been engaged a few days before, and 
which was more to their taste than to-day's gentle 
skirmishing. Pieces of broken wagons, dead horses, 
immense stains of blood in the snow, men with 
their heads severed in two pieces — these were the 
marks of an attack on a transport train guarded by 
a company of infantry, every man of which had 
been cut down. And yet — so strange are the anom- 
alies of semi-civilized nature — at the end of that af- 
fair, an infant, not over six months old, who had 
been discovered deserted among the debris, was 
picked up, wrapped in a big cloak, tenderly cared 
for during the night, and the next day carried 
back on horseback, thirty miles over the mountains, 



102 



Army Life in Russia. 



to the nearest hospital, and there delivered to the 
Sisters of Charity of the Red Cross, by whom it 
was taken in charge and sent to Russia for adoption. 
The picture of the rough Cossack carrying this 
child, laughing in his face, on the pommel of his 
saddle through the snow, was a most attractive one ; 
and yet the same man, without a moment's hesita- 
tion, would pull out his sword and hack off the head 
of its wounded father, lying on the ground and beg- 
ging for mercy ; and, while enjoying the zest of it at 
the moment, would forget all about it the next day. 

While this reconnaissance had been going on, the 
main body of the troops were still tugging pain- 
fully at their guns on the mountain range. It was 
six days before they had pulled them up one side, 
slid them down the other, and then put them to- 
gether again, mounted them on their wheels, and 
turned them over to the horses for draught. Final- 
ly the troops were all assembled in the valleys on 
the southern side ; and an attack was made at Tas- 
kossen, on the last day of the year, on the position 
which the Turks had taken up by throwing back 
their left flank to oppose the Russian advance 
against their rear. Their troops were commanded 
by the well-known Valentine Baker, who made a 
short but good defense, keeping it up until a dense 
fog settled just before sunset, and prevented Gour- 
ko's getting in the rear of the main Turkish army 



The Winter Campaign. 



103 



and bagging it entire, as the Turkish army was bag- 
ged at Shipka. 

It was a pretty fight to look at. The Turks had 
a good position along a pass in a spur of the moun- 
tain through which the road passed. They were 
on high ground, and the Russians had to advance 
through an open valley. In front of them, directly 
opposite to the Turkish position and about two 
miles from it, was a high spur on which we were 
situated, and from which every movement of the 
battle could be seen with perfect clearness. 

The Turks gave way about three o'clock in the 
afternoon, but it was impossible to follow them for 
any distance at that late hour of the short winter 
day, as the weather was inclement and the men 
were exhausted. The next morning, New Year's 
day, the troops were put in motion, the general and 
staff preceding them with a small escort. As they 
rode through the pass they came into a small valley 
not over four miles in width, in rear of the main 
range of the Balkans, which bounded it on the 
north, while natural spurs encircled it on the other 
sides. The principal body of the Turks had been on 
the Balkans, and the general looked eagerly to see 
whether they still remained there ; nothing could 
be discerned. But off on the right he noticed a 
few black dots moving toward the south over a 
snow-covered slope. With our glasses we thought 



104 Army Life in Russia, 

that a large body of troops could be seen massed in 
and near the village at the foot of the slope, about 
three miles off. The leading Russian battalions and 
batteries were immediately hurried in that direction, 
and, in a few minutes afterward, an enormous black 
mass, like a swarm of busy ants, was seen slowly 
ascending the mountain. Evidently a portion of 
the Turks were in retreat, but the Russians knew 
nothing of what had transpired at their principal 
position, and scanned eagerly the sides of the main 
range in search of further developments, while a 
few officers were sent forward to reconnoiter. Soon % 
afterward, a long winding column made its appear- 
ance, descending the southern slope of the main 
range. Was it the rest of the Turks, or was it a 
portion of the Russians ? Officers were sent off 
post-haste to learn. In less than half an hour one 
of them came galloping back to say that it was 
their own men, and that the whole position on the 
Balkans had been abandoned during the night. 
The troops we saw off on our right were, therefore, 
a large rear-guard of the Turkish army. The gene- 
ral took out of his pocket a piece of chocolate, — the 
only delicacy he had with him, — and divided it with 
his staff in congratulation of their success; for, in 
fact, the supposed impassable line of the main Bal- 
kan range had been passed in the depth of win- 
ter, and the Turks were in full retreat. Short dis- 



The Winter Campaign. 



105 



patches were at once written and sent to the end of 
the field-telegraph on the other side of the moun- 
tains, and others, more at length, were written later 
in the day and given to an officer, to take with the 
utmost speed and deliver into the Emperor's own 
hands at St. Petersburg, It was a New Years con- 
gratulation worth offering. 

Five days later the Russian troops entered the 
town of Sophia, which the Turks had evacuated 
during the preceding night. At the entrance of 
the town they were met by a procession of two or 
three thousand people, headed by a large number 
of priests of the orthodox church, attired in the 
robes of their office. Some of them bore crucifixes 
of silver, which were presented to the Russian com- 
mander, who devoutly uncovered his head, crossed 
himself three times, and kissed them. Others car- 
ried a silver platter containing a loaf of bread and 
some salt — the ancient emblems of hospitality. 
Behind them was a choir of several hundred voices, 
that immediately began singing an anthem. The 
rest of the crowd was made up of Bulgarians, who 
broke forth into loud cheers and shouts of welcome 
as the Russians rode along past them. 

This town, which was founded by the Byzantine 
Emperor Constantine in the sixth century, captured 
by the Bulgarians and made their capital in the 
ninth century, conquered by the Turks in 1382, and 
5* 



now reconquered by Christians in 1878, presented 
strange scenes — scenes which have little in com- 
mon with the nineteenth century as we understand 
it, and are possible now in no other civilized land 
but Turkey. 

Nearly all the shops had been owned by Turks or 
a few Greeks. The Turkish population had either 
fled with the Turkish troops or had hidden out of 
sight, and for about eight hours — from two o'clock 
in the night, when the Turks left, until ten o'clock 
in the morning, when the Russians entered — the 
Bulgarians had been engaged in indiscriminate and 
ruthless pillage. Every shop in the town had been 
broken open, and its contents carried off or scat- 
tered about the streets. The Russians very quickly 
brought order out of this confusion. Their Cossack 
whips were freely used on the backs of the Bul- 
garians, and any person found 'with goods in the 
street or suspicious-looking property in his house 
was required to bring it into one of the open 
squares of the town, where it was heaped up in 
great piles and guarded by sentries until its owner- 
ship could be clearly proven. 

The only solitary instance of pillage by the troops 
— a Cossack who was found guilty of stealing a 
watch from a man in the street — was summarily 
punished by hanging within an hour from the time 
of the robbery. 



The Winter Campaign. 



10; 



This instance of pillage by the Bulgarians was, 
unfortunately, not the exception — it was the com- 
mon rule on similar occasions ; and as the war went 
on and instances of it multiplied, it sadly dampened 
the ardent enthusiasm with which the Russians had 
begun the war for the relief of their suffering co- 
religionists. Misgovernment extending over cen- 
turies cannot be righted without the hatred which 
it has engendered finding vent in horrible excesses, 
and this war will stand out pre-eminent among 
those of modern times for the suffering which it in- 
flicted upon the non-combatant population. When- 
ever the Russian armies approached a village, the 
Turkish population abandoned everything and fled 
before them ; when the Russians were obliged to 
fall back and the Turks followed in pursuit, the 
Bulgarians fled before them ; when, finally, the 
Russian advance surged forward during the winter 
without interruption to the gates of Constantinople, 
a large portion of the entire Mohammedan popula- 
tion left their homes and villages, and packing a few 
possessions and still less food in one or two bullock 
wagons, they formed the nucleus of caravans of 
refugees — one of which, receiving -fresh additions 
at every village, finally stretched out over a length 
of twenty miles and contained two hundred thou- 
sand souls ! 

This great train became mingled with the retreat- 



io8 Army Life in Russia. 

ing Turkish troops, and was caught between two 
fractions of the advancing Russians — General Gour- 
ko from Sophia and General Skobeleff from Shipka. 
Its escort of a few battalions foolishly made a de- 
fense against the troops of the latter general, and 
being beaten it took refuge in flight toward the 
Rhodope Mountains, followed by all the able- 
bodied portion of the community, who left the old, 
the sick, and the babes to perish in the snow. The 
train was at once plundered of all its possessions by 
the Bulgarians of the neighboring villages, who 
mercilessly put to death all those who had not yet 
perished of cold. For three successive days we 
marched through the remnants of this caravan, 
scattered over a^ length of seventy miles, — broken 
wagons, scattered contents, dead animals ; here a 
man and his wife, who had stretched a blanket in 
the snow and lain down to die side by side ; there 
a stately old Turk, with flowing white beard, green 
turban, and brightly figured robe, lying by the ditch 
with his throat cut from ear to ear ; and again a 
naked little infant frozen stiff in the snow, with its 
eyes upturned to heaven. Our blood curdled as we 
saw a Bulgarian clot, grinning and staring at us 
from the road-side, who answered as we asked him 
who murdered those two Turks lying a few feet 
from us : 

" Nashe bratte ! " (Our brothers, we did it.) 



The Winter Campaign. 109 

In the villages which the Turks had left, their 
houses, land, and effects were all promptly seized 
and used by the Bulgarians. On the other hand, in 
the wagons of the caravan were found silver altar- 
pieces which the Mohammedans had stolen from 
the Christian churches before beginning their flight. 

Meanwhile, the refugees of this particular cara- 
van eked out a precarious existence in the Rhodope 
Mountains until spring, when, aided and led by one 
or two English adventurers, they began an insur- 
rection against the Russian troops who had been 
left to guard the line of communications. When 
this had been subdued, some months later, the tale 
of their sufferings reached Constantinople, and a 
commission of foreign consuls was sent to investi- 
gate the matter. They reported that more than a 
hundred and fifty thousand homeless and starving 
refugees were scattered about in the villages of this 
inhospitable region, with no resources of food or 
clothing for the coming winter. Subscriptions 
were opened in England for their relief, and meas- 
ures were taken, the war being now over, to return 
them to their homes. Arriving there, they found 
all their property appropriated by others, and they 
met with a bleak reception from the Bulgarians, 
who imagined they had seen the last of their long- 
time enemies and oppressors ; and it is question- 
able whether it would not have been more humane 



no Army Life in Russia. 



in the end, as several Russians suggested, to make 
them continue their flight to Asia. 

The caravan of which I have spoken was the 
largest, but it was only one of many. The migra- 
tion of the others continued all the way to Constan- 
tinople, where, on the arrival of the Russians, there 
were reported to be three hundred thousand refu- 
gees. The mosque of St. Sophia alone contained 
nearly three thousand of them when I first saw it. 
They were herded about in mosques and in open 
squares until the typhus fever broke out among 
them, when the Turkish authorities displayed un- 
wonted energy and in a few days dispersed the 
whole mass, sending about half of them over into 
Asia and the other half back toward Bulgaria. 

It is probably within the limit of fact to say that 
seven hundred thousand Mohammedans abandoned 
their homes and possessions during the war, and set 
forth on a long journey the aim and end of which 
they knew not, and that not one-half of them have 
ever returned, and a large proportion have perished. 
In addition to this, about three hundred thousand 
Bulgarians abandoned their homes at the time of 
Gourko's retreat in July. A million of people were 
thus wandering about during the course of the war, 
with only such possessions as two or three families 
could pack into one bullock-wagon. The sufferings 
which they endured can never be told, much less 



The Winter Campaign. 



in 



appreciated. Even now, more than two years after 
the events of which I am writing, we constantly 
read in the papers of a new commission being 
formed to make arrangements for returning the 
Turkish refugees to their homes. 

The Russians stayed at Sophia just a week, recu- 
perating the men and getting together the supplies 
for a further advance. Their way then lay on the 
ancient Roman road to Adrianople. They had to 
cross a second range of mountains, where the same 
difficulties were encountered with the guns as before, 
only lessened to the extent that smooth roads are 
less difficult than mountain paths, although both be 
covered with frozen, icy snow. Emerging from the 
mountains at last in the wide and beautiful plain of 
the Maritza, they came nearly up with the retreating 
Turks, and then for three days, marching from day- 
light to dark, and always in sight of each other, they 
kept up the exciting chase, hardly stopping long 
enough to extinguish the blazing fires in every vil- 
lage which marked the line of Turkish march. 

On the afternoon of the third day, the advance 
guard, under Count Shouvaloff, with whom I was 
marching, were met by some cavalry which were 
scouting on their right, who reported that a column 
of Turks were moving directly toward a village 
just abreast of them, with the intention of crossing 
the Maritza River and gaining the high-road on 



112 Army Life in Russia. 

which they were. Count ShouvalofT immediately 
turned his men to the right, and they plunged into 
the stream — a river more than a hundred yards 
wide and four feet deep, filled with cakes of floating 
ice which struck against the men's breasts as they 
forded it. Arrived on the other side, their clothing 
was soon stiff with ice ; but the men pressed on 
through the village and formed on the opposite 
side. But the Turks had already seen their move- 
ments, and had turned back to the railroad along 
which they were marching, and continued their 
retreat in that direction. The rear of the column, 
on a good run, was over half a mile from us ; 
the sun was just setting, and ShouvalofT had only 
about 5,000 men at hand. He rightly argued : If 
they have a large force, I am too weak for them 
to-day ; if a small force, I would rather they escape 
than that my men should freeze to death with their 
icy clothes in these fields to-night. So, sending a 
small force of cavalry to reconnoiter their strength, 
he turned his men back to the village and bade 
thorn crowd twenty or thirty into each hut, and dry 
their clothes around blazing fires. The general 
picked out one of the squalid little huts for himself, 
and invited the two foreign officers who were 
present, Major von Liegnitz and myself, as well 
as his chief of staff and two aids-de-camp, one of 
whom was his son, to share it with him. We got 



The Winter Campaign. 113 

some black bread of the peasants, and each one 
contributed a little tea or potted meats — whatever 
he had in his saddle, the wagons being all behind — 
to make a meal. Afterward we discussed the pro- 
babilities of the next day. There was plainly 
visible from our hut a long line of fires stretching 
across the country, about three miles from us. 
Liegnitz had, as the sequel proved, the best mili- 
tary instinct, and argued that this was a line of 
bivouac fires of a large body of Turkish troops, who 
had selected that position to give battle ; the others 
inclined to the opinion that the fires were caused 
by burning the tops of the rice stalks which pro- 
jected above the snow. In any event, the necessary 
orders were given by the general for the disposition 
of the troops for the morrow — for an attack if the 
Turks stood firm, or for a pursuit if they should 
retreat. Then we sandwiched ourselves about on 
the floor, and slept during the night. Two thoughts 
kept running through my mind : one was the con- 
trast between the present squalid surroundings of 
Count ShouvalofY and his large estates and beau- 
tiful home in St. Petersburg, and his patriotism in 
leaving all this and asking to come to the army in 
an inferior position after having been passed over 
in the first assignment of generals ; and the other 
was about my own position — going again into a 
battle in which I might lose my life as easily as any 



114 



Army Life in Russia. 



one else, but in which I had no more direct concern 
than that of an observer watching the development 
of an interesting problem, in which if I got hit I 
would neither receive nor be entitled to any sympa- 
thy, and to the result of which I was incapable of 
contributing in any way whatever. There is a pecu- 
liar sense of foolishness in the feeling of being hit 
as a bystander in a row. But our thoughts are 
mastered by physical needs, and one sleeps easily 
after bodily exhaustion, no matter in what sur- 
roundings. 

We were up before daylight the next morning, 
and just as the sun arose — a bright morning of 
intensely bitter cold — the troops which had come 
up during the night, and slept in the fields on the 
other side of the river, began crossing the stream. 
As they had to fight all day in the snow it was very 
important that their clothing should not be wet, 
and they were therefore ordered to strip naked, roll 
their clothes in a bundle and carry them on their 
heads. As they came out of the icy river they were 
as red as boiled lobsters, but made merry as they 
squatted about in the snow to put on their clothes. 
They then formed and marched through the village, 
where the general saluted them as usual. 

" Good-morning, my men." 

" Good-morning, your Highness." 

" Did you burn your feet coming over?" 



The Winter Campaign. 



115 



" No, indeed, your Highness ! " they answered in 
a shout, as a broad grin stole over their good- 
natured faces. 

The troops were soon deployed in the fields out- 
side the village, and, looking in the direction of the 
fires we had noticed the night before, we saw a 
ridge of slight elevation rising out of the rice-fields, 
and at intervals along it were several batteries, and 
we knew very well that plenty of infantry lay either 
between or behind them. The advance was gradu- 
ally made toward this position, and when the line of 
skirmishers came within about two thousand yards 
of it, the artillery opened fire, accompanied by some 
straggling infantry shots. The men were ordered 
to advance slowly, or to lie down in the furrows of 
the field, as it was not intended to attack seriously 
from this side. 

The Turkish artillery kept up a good racket, and 
one battery in particular singled out the general's 
staff and followed us closely, as we moved over the 
field, with its shells and shrapnel ; for the former we 
cared little, as they buried themselves in the ground, 
spattering the mud and snow over us, but the shrap- 
nel breaking in the air just over your head, and its 
pieces and bullets screaming past you, has an ugly 
and disagreeable sound. In about an hour the men 
had got up in good range, and the battle was in full 
play. It was not an exciting spectacle. The whole 



n6 



Army Life hi Russia. 



plan of the fight, which lasted this day (January 
15th) and the two following days, was to hold the 
Turks, with whose rear the Russians had caught up, 
in place, while other portions of the Russian troops 
should pass around their right and rear, and either 
capture the whole force or cut them off from their 
line of retreat along the high-road, and drive them 
into the Rhodope Mountains. The part assigned 
to Count Shouvaloff's troops was therefore to sim- 
ply engage the Turks with sufficient energy to keep 
them in position. This sort of affair was entirely 
deficient in the dramatic grandeur of the magnifi- 
cent advances in line at Plevna. The two lines now 
lay down, firing away at each other with right good 
will, and the artillery on each side increasing the 
din. But on either side there was no movement 
visible, except of couriers or generals moving along 
their men, or occasionally a battery shifting its po- 
sition. We sat on our horses, a few hundred yards 
behind the line of skirmishers, nearly an hour, 
watching the monotonous progress of the fight. 
We were a group of perhaps twenty horsemen in 
all, counting the orderlies, and we were under a 
large branching tree, hoping that this would make 
us less prominent. But the singing of the bullets 
gradually increased in such a degree as to let us 
know that we were becoming a special target. 
Finally the well-known " s-s-s-s-st?// " of a bullet that 



The Winter Campaign. 



117 



has struck, as distinct from the " whiss-.r-.s'V of one 
that has gone by, made us all turn, and we saw a 
young orderly officer in the rear of the group bend- 
ing over his saddle, with his hand at his head. He 
fell from his horse into the arms of a couple of Cos- 
sacks who had dismounted to help him, and was 
laid down in the snow, while the nearest passing 
stretcher was called to carry him off. The bullet 
had passed through his forehead, and he was dead 
when he reached the nearest temporary hospital. 
In taking off his overcoat, it was then noticed that 
he had another bullet directly through his heart. 

Strange fate, that out of twenty men standing 
quietly under fire for an hour, but one, and he the 
youngest, should be hit, and with two bullets simul- 
taneously, either one of which was certainly fatal ! 

This incident warned us to move away from this 
place, and we rode slowly across to a part of the 
ground where a small brook, with banks about four 
feet high, meandered through the field. The general 
peremptorily ordered his staff to dismount and sit 
down under the shelter of the bank, and to have 
their horses led behind a neighboring clump of 
bushes. He, Major Liegnitz, and myself then 
walked up and down for a while, looking at the 
Turkish line, and talking of the probable result of 
the day. Presently two or three of the horses were 
hit, and the general then politely requested Lieg- 



n8 



Army Life in Russia. 



nitz and myself to also shelter ourselves under the 
bank. He was then left alone on the bank, and I 
shall long remember the picture of him, in his long 
overcoat, pacing up and down in the snow, the noise, 
but inertness of the battle, and the incessant whiz- 
zing of the bullets over our heads. Many of them, 
plunging just over us, traced little furrows in the 
snow, barely beyond our feet; and we commented 
on the infinite variety which could be made in the 
simple sound of " whiss-s-s-s." 

Two or three hours later, as no new develop- 
ments were taking place here, I determined to set 
out to find General Gourko, the commanding gen- 
eral, and learn the news of the battle on the other 
flank. I rode back with my orderly over the field, 
past the reserves and back into the village. Here 
were some temporary hospitals in the huts, and 
here also were the skulkers, who are always found 
in the rear of every battle-field. Little groups of 
five or six men, who had probably got there by 
bringing back the wounded, were crouched against 
the hedges of the gardens here and there, laughing, 
chatting, eating, amusing themselves in any way, in 
as utter disregard of the battle which was roaring 
in their ears, and in which the lives of their com- 
rades were at stake, as if they had been at home in 
Russia. 

Crossing the river again, I saw considerable 



The Winter Campaign. 



119 



masses of troops in reserve lying down in the 
fields, and was warned by an officer that the direct 
road to the left of the Russian position was com- 
manded by a very heavy fire, and that I would do 
well to circle around behind the troops. The river 
was bordered with quite a considerable growth of 
small trees, which shut out the Turks from direct 
view, but the bullets which came whistling from 
that direction gave very plain indication of their 
whereabouts. 

The plain was dotted here and there with ancient 
tumuli, about eight to ten feet high, and I rode 
from one to another of these in search of General 
Gourko. I finally saw in the distance a consid- 
erable number of horses and dismounted men be- 
hind one of these, and riding up found it was the 
general and his staff. He and his chief of staff 
were stretched flat on the top of the mound, peer- 
ing over the top with their glasses, and the rest of 
the group were crowded together at its base. As I 
came up he turned around and slid down the 
mound for a short distance, and asked me to sit 
down and tell him how things were going in Count 
Shouvaloff's front, and also asked if I had seen 
anything on my way of a certain brigade whose ar- 
rival he was awaiting with the utmost impatience, 
as they were to move around the flank of the enemy 
and block his retreat. 



120 



Army Life in Russia. 



How very prosaic a modern battle can be with its 
long-range muskets, and especially in the middle of 
January, with the thermometer away below freez- 
ing! There was a deafening roar, two curving 
lines of black dots could just be distinguished in 
the snow, and the bullets were singing over our 
heads as we squatted behind a mound — and that 
was all of the picture. Yet it would have been the 
merest masquerading for the general and his staff 
to go parading up and down the field to draw the 
fire of sharp-shooters. He was in the most central 
part of the field and on the greatest eminence — in- 
significant as it was — that the field afforded. Nev- 
ertheless, at the time I could not help thinking how 
tame it all was, as a mere spectacle — how little ac- 
tion there was in it. Yet this is the characteristic 
of nearly all battles now up to the last moment of 
the final advance, which is decisive of victory or 
defeat, but which seldom lasts half an hour. The 
range of the infantry aim is so great (a mile and a 
quarter) that the action may become fierce, and 
many thousands of men can be hit without either 
side clearly seeing its opponents, and one must be 
well inside the line of infantry fire to follow the 
movements clearly, even with a glass. Cavalry 
charges cannot stand under the withering fire of 
rapid breech-loaders, and the final advance of in- 
fantry will only be made after hours of preliminary 



The Winter Campaign. 



121 



but possibly deadly maneuvering have been passed. 
The dramatic features of battle have become very 
short-lived and infrequent. 

This day's fight brought no permanent result. 
The brigade that was to get in rear of the Turks 
came too late, and the latter slipped through the 
gap and took up another position a few miles in 
rear. As night came on the firing simmered down, 
and the general and staff sought the nearest village 
for shelter. 

In the morning, the battle was renewed on the 
same principle as before, of trying to hold the 
Turks on one side and get around them on the 
other. While it was going on, the general and 
staff rode along the road toward the left of his 
position, near the large town of Philippopolis, 
about four miles off. This town is peculiarly 
situated. It was founded in the days of the con- 
quests of Philip of Macedon, when Avar was made 
at short range, and the party who was the high- 
est had a great advantage ; and when a town 
situated on an eminence, from which an advanc- 
ing enemy could be seen in time, was sure of a 
good defense. For these reasons, the town was 
perched on the sides of three abrupt rocky emi- 
nences which rise in solitary grandeur from the 
midst of a plain, which is hardly broken for twenty 

miles in one direction and sixty in another. Its ap- 
6 



122 Army Life in Russia. 

pearance is at once unique and striking. It stood 
boldly out against the sky as we rode toward it, 
and our thoughts naturally drifted back through 
the long series of strange scenes it has witnessed 
during these last three and twenty centuries. There 
is no bloodier cock-pit in all Europe than these 
plains of ancient Thrace, the fertile and beautiful 
valley of the Maritza or Hebrus. Here the Mace- 
donians, under Philip and Alexander, first subdued 
the Thracian tribes; here the Romans, under Trajan 
and Adrian, passed on their conquests of the lands 
beyond the Danube ; here they built roads and 
other public works during their administration, 
which still exist to-day. Here the Bulgarians fought 
for the foundation of their kingdom out of the tot- 
tering ruins of the Roman Empire in the East ; 
through this same valley the contending hosts of 
Christians and Turks have surged back and forward 
for the past five centuries ; and here, finally, under 
the shadow of the three rocky peaks on which 
Philip of Macedon founded the town of his own 
name in the fourth century before Christ, was now 
being fought the last great battle of the latest war 
in the long series of those which have been fought 
on the questions of whether the Turks shall live 
and govern in Europe. The mind is staggered by 
the long retrospect of history which the associa- 
tions of this place call forth, and we felt that we 



The Winter Campaign. 



123 



were now assisting at one of the not least impor- 
tant steps of that development of historical se- 
quence. The advance of this Christian army and 
the retreat of the Mohammedan, and the still more 
important migration of the immense numbers of 
refugees in front of us, marked one of the final 
periods — not the last, but very near it — of that re- 
trocession of the Turkish wave of conquest, which 
came into Europe only to blight every land where 
it penetrated, and which has now been surely re- 
ceding for two centuries, and early in the next cen- 
tury, at the latest, will be gone forever. 

The battle of Philippopolis lasted throughout the 
15th, 16th, and 17th of January. On the afternoon 
of the last day, the Russians had gained positions 
on three sides of the Turks, and cut them off from 
their line of retreat toward Adrianople. The latter 
fought with their backs to the mountains, and 
fought hard and well, as the Turkish rank and file 
always do. But, on a final advance of the Russians, 
they were obliged to abandon all their artillery and 
train, and disperse in small bands over the Rhodope 
Mountains to the ^Egean. Pursuit was impossible, 
and these scattered detachments pursued their way 
unmolested until, two weeks later, they reached the 
shores of the sea, and were picked up by ships of the 
Turkish navy and transported to Constantinople. 

The Shipka army having been captured in bulk, 



and Suleiman's Sophia army having been routed 
and dispersed, no armed force of any magnitude lay 
between the Russians and Constantinople. They 
entered Philippopolis and remained there four days 
to refit, then pressed on to Adrianople, where we 
found General Skobeleff's detachment, which had 
arrived two days before us. From there the ad- 
vance again pushed forward and came in front of 
the lines of Tchekmedje, the defenses of Constanti- 
nople, on the 31st of January, just fifty-two days 
after the fall of Plevna. On the same day the arm- 
istice was signed which put an end to active opera- 
tions. 

In these fifty-two days, the column which I had 
the honor to accompany had marched six hundred 
miles and had crossed two high ranges of moun- 
tains. The combined Russian forces had captured 
one army of 40,000 men, dispersed another of 50,000 
men, had taken 213 pieces of artillery, over 10,000,- 
000 rounds of cartridges, 12,000,000 rations, and 
enormous numbers of tents, baggage, pontoons, 
and military supplies of every description. They 
had, in short, for the moment annihilated the mili- 
tary power of Turkey, and were only deterred from 
entering Constantinople by questions of political 
expediency. The manner in which the men lived, 
and the sufferings which they endured in the snow 
and ice of these fifty-two days of midwinter, I have 



The Winter Campaign. 125 



endeavored to explain elsewhere ;* their self-abne- 
gation and cheerfulness under great physical suf- 
fering, to which their brilliant success was pre-emi- 
nently due, are excelled by nothing of which we 
have any record in history, and they entitle every 
man of those trans-Balkan columns to the lasting 
gratitude of their own countrymen and the friends 
of Christian government everywhere, no less than to 
the admiration of the entire world, which still appre- 
ciates the value of military heroism. 

* " The Russian Army and its Campaigns in Turkey in 1877-78." 
Pages 369-374. 



CHAPTER VI. 



RUSSIAN GENERALS. 

THE advance-guard on the march from Adriano- 
ple to Constantinople was commanded by Lieuten- 
ant-General Skobeleff, and while with it my pre- 
vious acquaintance first began to ripen into great 
intimacy with two men — General Skobeleff and Mr. 
J. A. MacGahan — who stand, as I believe, at the 
head of their respective professions ; professions 
widely apart — one of them as old as the history of 
man, and the other the product of the last thirty 
years ; professions which can hardly be said to be 
equal in responsibility and importance, yet between 
which the gulf is not so great ; for the world is 
governed not so much by battles as by politics ; pol- 
itics, even in the most despotic of countries, are now 
directed by public opinion, and public opinion is 
largely formed by the newspapers, and by their cor- 
respondence rather than their editorials. These 
are well-established facts of the times we live in, 
and the vast influence of the daily press, disgraced 
though it may often be by license and abuse, should 

cause it to receive that consideration to which its 

126 



Russian Generals. 



127 



importance entitles it, from military men as well as 
from other functionaries of government. 

Newspaper correspondents will hereafter form a 
most important element in every war, every great 
diplomatic conference, every other great event of 
any character ; and the way to treat them is not 
to foolishly banish well-trained professional men, as 
the English tried to do in Afghanistan, and take in 
place of their reports the crude, biased, and incor- 
rect statements of tyros in the form of subaltern 
officers, but to treat the real correspondents with dig- 
nity, increase their sense of responsibility, and give 
them every facility for acquiring correct informa- 
tion of facts that have already transpired and are 
concluded ; in short, to make the position one that 
will be sought by men of brains, energy, and a high 
sense of honor, and thus to see that the world, 
which will have news of some sort, shall have truth- 
ful news 

But of the generals first, as being the senior pro- 
fession. 

Mikhail Dimitrievitch Skobeleff was born in Octo- 
ber, 1845 > grandfather rose from the ranks to be 
a famous general in the Caucasian wars of the first 
Alexander; his father was an officer of the guards, 
and his mother came of a noble and wealthy family 
intimately connected by marriage with the persons 
in the court most nearly attached to the Emperor's 



128 



Army Life in Russia. 



person. At the age of eighteen he became concern- 
ed in some disturbance while at the University, and 
was dismissed. His father, who then commanded 
the Emperor's body-guard, immediately entered 
him in one of the regiments of the guard, and he 
was sent to Poland, where he saw some active ser- 
vice during the insurrection of 1863. After this 
war he returned to St. Petersburg, but soon tired of 
the inactive garrison life, alternating in barrack 
duty and the endless round of social gayety. As 
he himself expressed it, the fine gentlemen of the 
guards drove him out. He entered the Staff Col- 
lege, and at the conclusion of his two years' service 
of instruction was made a captain and sent to the 
Caucasus about 1869 or 1870. After two or three 
years of the ordinary guerilla service against the 
mountain tribes of that region, he was transferred 
to Turkestan, and took part in the Khivan cam- 
paign of 1873 as lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of 
Cossacks. At the close of this campaign he made 
a wonderful and famous journey through the desert, 
accompanied by only two or three Kirghiz, under 
orders to discover what was actually the nature of 
the country along which the Krasnovodsk column 
was to have advanced from the Caspian, but which 
had turned back when half its men had perished of 
thirst. He was made colonel at the close of this 
war and attached to the staff of General Kaufmann, 



Russian Generals. 



129 



whom he accompanied two years later in the first 
expedition against Khokand. For his services in 
this campaign he was made a major-general, and in 
the following spring, at the age of thirty-one, he was 
placed in command of an independent force of about 
4,000 men, with the aid of which he completed the 
conquest of Khokand, and annexed to the Russian 
empire a fertile province of nearly 30,000 square 
miles and a million of inhabitants. The province 
received the name of Ferghana, and Skobeleff was 
made governor of it. For his services in the 
Khivan campaign he received the fourth class of 
the order of St. George, and for the conquest of 
Khokand the third class of the same order — the 
latter being a reward whose value may be estimated 
from the fact that in the whole war in Turkey only 
thirty-seven of them were bestowed. 

Skobeleff remained as Governor of Ferghana until 
a few months before the breaking out of the war, 
thus completing a tour of nearly seven years' con- 
secutive and active service in the Caucasus and 
Central Asia. In this school he learned his trade 
as a soldier, and I have often discussed with him 
the value of it, advancing the well-known theory, 
" la petite guerre gate les militaires" and asserting 
that great generals were not formed in small wars 
against semi-barbaric, nomadic people, and he, on 

the other hand, always maintaining that the first 

6* 



130 



Army Life in Russia. 



essential to a general or any other officer is the 
habit of being accustomed to danger and the re- 
sponsibility of command under fire, and that these 
habits are acquired in the wars of Central Asia, of 
Algeria, or on our own plains. Having once ac- 
quired them, a man can pass readily to the com- 
mand of large bodies of troops if he has the neces- 
sary talents ; and, on the other hand, his talents will 
never be the worse for his previous experience in 
small wars. Without discussing this question, it 
may be said that SkobelefT affords no argument on 
one side or the other, for he is a man who is alto- 
gether exceptional — one of those few who have the 
power of rising superior to their own surroundings, 
and make their fate rather than follow it. He is a 
voracious reader, and his wealth puts all books at 
his command, no matter in what part of the world 
he may be. In the intervals of his campaigns he 
must have devoured books, for I never met a man so 
thoroughly posted in all the salient facts of military 
history, of the principles of modern warfare, and of 
the questions of Central Asiatic and Indian govern- 
ment. And he read, too, not as one reads at home 
or in a university, but in the midst of events, with a 
realizing sense of responsibility, seeing actualities 
and not mere pictures in what he read. For in- 
stance, in his garden at Bokhara he read (in Eng- 
lish) the story of the destruction of Elphinstone's 



Russian Generals. 



column between Cabul and Djelallabad in 1842. 
Every word of that terrible tale sunk deep into his 
memory, for he stood in precisely the same position 
— had just conquered a race of Asiatics of the same 
type — and while he read he half expected that any 
minute, as he sat in his garden, he might hear of an 
insurrection of the Khokandians, as the English at 
their newly-formed clubs in Cabul heard of the rising 
of the Afghans. He once gave me a summary of this 
tale of disaster, and I listened to him in eager si- 
lence for several hours, as I have listened to General 
Sherman narrate some story of our civil war. He 
is, indeed, the rival of Sherman as a fluent and 
graphic speaker. 

Skobeleff came to Russia in the winter preceding 
the war, under a cloud of suspicion none the less 
heavy because of its entire injustice. In the period 
of inaction after the Khokandian campaign, his 
combative nature had determined to wage war on 
the rascals of the Supply Department. They, in 
turn, waged war on him, and, being no less skillful 
than unscrupulous and corrupt, they succeeded in 
sending charges to St. Petersburg of the gravest 
character against Skobeleff. One of the Emperor's 
aids-de-camp was sent out especially to investigate 
the matter, and, as he was courted by the people of 
the Supply Department and but little heeded by 
Skobeleff, he went back and made his report that 



132 



Army Life in Russia, 



Skobeleff was a million of roubles short in his ac- 
counts ! As soon as Skobeleff heard of this he got 
leave by telegraph from Kaufmann, and, without 
delaying longer than to pack up his vouchers, he 
started for St. Petersburg. There he appeared 
before the officials of the Treasury Department and 
submitted his papers. A thorough investigation 
was made, and Skobeleff was entirely acquitted, and 
received the official statement of the Treasury De- 
partment that his accounts were clear and correct 
in every particular. But a man of his pronounced 
and aggressive nature never lacks for enemies, and 
he is, moreover, one of those very, very rare instances 
of a man in Russia who dares to make his own 
career without asking the aid of court influence and 
" protection." The result was that, although offici- 
ally vindicated, the cloud still rested on him ; and 
the jealousy of a man only thirty-two, who had the 
rank of major-general and two crosses of St. George, 
was so great that he could obtain no command. 
The most that he could get was a nominal position 
on the Grand Duke's staff, en disponibilite, i.e., hav- 
ing no particular duty, but to be disposed of when 
something turned up. It was not long before some- 
thing did turn up for a man of his character. At 
the passage of the Danube he asked permission to 
accompany the commander of the leading division 
of troops — a major-general only slightly superior in 



Russian Generals. 



133 



date to himself — in the quality of a mere aid-de- 
camp or orderly officer, a position usually filled by 
lieutenants and captains. To show the stuff he was 
made of, he was not content to cross in the boats, 
but rode his horse into the river and swam the 
entire width of it — a stream as large as the Mis- 
souri near its mouth. The general whom he accom- 
panied had never before been in battle, and Sko- 
beleff's assistance and advice to him at the critical 
moments were of the utmost value— a fact to which 
the latter bore willing and generous testimony in 
his official report. 

A few days later, in the organization of the de- 
tachments for the advance, Skobeleff received a 
command — the same brigade of Caucasian Cossacks 
of which I have given some account in the previous 
chapter. With these he was engaged in reconnais- 
sance duty for the next four weeks, until they came 
into pitched battle at the second affair at Plevna, 
on July 30th. Here he handled this mere handful 
of men with such consummate skill as to save the 
left flank of the army from annihilation, and to pre- 
vent what was in fact a very serious defeat from 
becoming a hopeless rout. 

He was then sent to reconnoiter the position of 
the Turks at Lovtcha, which he did in a most tho- 
rough manner ; and, some infantry being placed 
under his command, he prepared all the details of 



134 



Army Life in Russia. 



the subsequent attack on that place so effectually 
that when the main body of troops came to make 
the attack, their commander had only to confirm 
his dispositions. In the attack he commanded the 
left wing of the Russian force, and to such purpose 
that the Grand Duke's brief telegram announcing 
the affair to Russia concluded with the words, 
" General Skobeleff, Jr., was the hero of the day." 

From Lovtcha he came to Plevna, and receiving 
the command of the 18,000 men who formed the left 
flank of the Russian army, he made that heroic but 
unsuccessful assault on the redoubts just south of 
the town which, on a larger scale, has already taken 
in the Russian annals a place similar to that of the 
charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava, in the 
English, or the final assault of Sheridan at Win- 
chester, in our own. He lost 8,000 men out of his 
18,000, and was driven out on the next day by 
overwhelming numbers. The attack was faulty in 
principle, and with the force which he had, was 
doomed to failure from the beginning — but this was 
no fault of his ; he simply obeyed his orders, and 
did his utmost to accomplish the impossible. And 
although nearly fifty per cent, of his command per- 
ished under him, yet from that day his name was 
spoken of among the soldiers of the entire army in 
words of fables, as a man whose bravery could not 
be described. I have heard them speak of him as 



Russian Generals, 



135 



a general under whom they would rather fight and 
die, than fight and live under another ; for with 
hirn they knew they could never come to disgrace, 
but were sure they would achieve the fame of mili- 
tary heroes whether they gained or lost the day. 
whether they lived or were killed. 

On the following day Skobeleff was made lieu- 
tenant-general, being then not quite thirty-three 
years old, and was appointed to the command of 
the Sixteenth Division, which command he re- 
tained, in addition, at times, to the command of 
other divisions, till the close of the war. He then 
set to work to make that the most famous division in 
the army, and he succeeded. It is commonly spo- 
ken of to-day as " the famous Sixteenth Division." 
He won the unalterable affection of the men by his 
ceaseless care for their wants. They were the best- 
clothed and the best-fed troops in the army ; they 
were never short of ammunition ; they were never 
needlessly moved or exposed. If he was without 
public funds he never hesitated to advance, or give 
outright, whatever private funds he had, if it could in 
any way contribute to their comfort. At Constan- 
tinople, for instance, when there was considerable 
delay in transporting the sick to Russia, Skobeleff 
advanced over 15,000 roubles out of his own pocket, 
and succeeded in chartering an English steamer 
then in port, and obtained permission to ship the 



136 



Army Life in Russia. 



sick of his own division in it to Odessa. They thus 
reached home several weeks in advance of their 
regular turn. When his friends expressed their 
admiration at his generosity, he replied, " I owe 
everything in the world to these men, and the least 
I can do is spend a few thousand roubles to help 
them in their sickness." He passed his whole time 
in the midst of his men, tasting their food, inspect- 
ing their arms, learning their every want with his 
own eyes, and supplying it with orders based on his 
own knowledge. He was always with them in their 
most exposed positions, and when he was slightly 
wounded he refused to go to the rear, but had a cot 
brought up and placed in the trenches, and remained 
on it there until he was able to mount his horse 
again. At the instant of going into a fight he 
called as many officers as possible about him, to 
explain the exact purpose and object of it, and the 
manner in which this object was to be gained ; and 
then he always made a short speech to his men, 
telling them what he expected them to do, and that 
he felt sure they would do it. In a word, he made 
himself and his division one — he representing the 
brains and they the body, and the heart being in 
common. He succeeded so thoroughly in accom- 
plishing this union, that his men responded to his 
thoughts as readily as the muscles obey the will. I 
have listened in wonder at the enthusiastic admira- 



Russian Generals. 



137 



tion with which they spoke of him, and the no less 
enthusiastic way in which they obeyed him ; and I 
doubt if a more thoroughly ideal relation between 
a general and his men has existed since the days of 
Cromwell. 

In return for his care of his men he demanded of 
them, first of all, unhesitating, unflinching, unques- 
tioning obedience to his orders. If he ordered a 
man to do anything, where immediate death was as 
certain as the sun in heaven, he expected to be 
instantly obeyed, without so much as even a look 
of question or surprise. Himself a man of wide 
reading, speaking many languages, and having trav- 
eled in many lands, he gathered about him, in his 
personal staff, as rough and uncultured a lot of 
men as I ever saw in officers' uniform ; but they 
answered his purpose to carry orders, and, as he 
said, if he ordered one of them to ride his horse 
against the muzzle of a discharging cannon, he 
would do it instantly. One morning that I was 
with him on a reconnaissance, we came to a small 
brook; an officer of his staff, with whom he had 
had some cause of dissatisfaction just before, rode 
forward to try its depth ; while he was cautiously 
feeling the bank, another officer — a Cossack — rode 
toward it, and, as his horse drew back, plied both 
spurs and the whip with all his force ; the horse 
sprang forward into the middle of the little stream, 



133 



Army Life in Russia. 



and as it was very deep, though very narrow, both 
horse and rider disappeared under the water. 

" There," cried Skobeleff to the other, " that's the 
way I want my officers to do things." 

The first officer, greatly nettled, then put spurs 
to his horse, and, though Skobeleff, seeing his pur- 
pose, yelled at him to stop, in an instant he and his 
horse disappeared under the water. Both men were 
then dragged out, dripping from their cold bath. 
Every one laughed, and Skobeleff was in the best of 
humor. 

" Now go home and dry your clothes. You're 
both fine fellows (Vwee Molodetzee). But," turn- 
ing to the first one, " after this never hesitate in what 
you have to do." 

On another occasion Skobeleff heard one of his 
colonels, just as he was going into action, trying to 
make a speech to his men, but hesitating, and stam- 
mering, and breaking down in it. He relieved him 
instantly. " If at such a moment," he said, " a man 
can't find a few simple words to tell his men what 
he expects them to do, then he don't know it him- 
self. At that moment a man can't lie ; his heart 
will speak if he have a heart for fight, and if he 
can't find words it is either because he is a coward, 
or because he has no notion in his head of what he 
is going to do." 

Again, he punished his men without mercy for 



Russian Generals. 



139 



the slightest depredation on unarmed inhabitants 
or their property. " Not that I care anything for 
these miserable people — their sufferings are nothing 
to those of my men — but because they had no 
orders to do it. If it served my purpose, I would 
give them a village to plunder and burn without a 
moment's thought. But they must do it only on 
my order. I want them to feel that they are merely 
my creatures — that they exist simply by my will." 

These little episodes read queerly ; they seem to 
be almost the doings and talk of a madman ; but it 
was madness with a direct method — the insanity 
which is merely another name for intense concen- 
tration of thought and energy on a single purpose. 

Of his officers he required that they should know 
their own business ; not that they should be cul- 
tured, should present a fine appearance, should be 
gentlemanly in their speech. He demanded none 
of these things, but only that they should combine 
unflinching bravery and obedience with a thorough 
knowledge of the way to handle the number of men 
each commanded, so as to obtain the greatest re- 
sults with them. If they answered these require- 
ments there was nothing he would not do for them : 
he continually praised them ; he secured them re- 
wards and promotions ; he shared with them what- 
ever he had. If they failed in these qualities he 
pursued them relentlessly, abused them in unmeas- 



140 Army Life in Russia. 

ured terms, and sought the first opportunity to get 
them out of his division. 

His personal bravery was not only of the most 
reckless character, but at times it seemed to par- 
take of the merest bravado, in which only extraor- 
dinary luck prevented him from reaping in death 
the well-earned reward of his foolishness. He al- 
ways wore a white coat, a white hat, and rode a 
white horse in battle, simply because other generals 
usually avoided these target-marks. He was perpet- 
ually riding at breakneck speed over some fence or 
ditch, leaving half his staff and orderlies sprawling 
in it. He never lost an opportunity of displaying 
courage. He went into battle in his cleanest uniform 
and fresh underclothing, covered with perfume, and 
wearing a diamond-hilted sword, in order, as he 
said, that he might die with his best clothes on. 
For a long time he wore, with evident affectation, a 
coat in which he had been wounded, and which had 
a conspicuous patch on the shoulder. 

Yet all this was not mere bravado and nonsense, 
but was the result of thought and almost cold- 
blooded calculation. It was intended to impress 
his men, and it did so. They firmly believed he 
could not be hit, and whenever they saw a white 
horse, coat, and cap among them, they knew that 
was Skobeleff, and so long as he was there they felt 
sure that everything was going well. At the be- 



Russian Generals. 141 

ginning of the war he made up his mind firmly that 
he would never come out of it alive. (After reading 
me the telegram announcing the armistice, one of 
the first things he said was, " Well, perhaps I won't 
get killed after all.") With this idea firmly fixed in 
his mind, that his death was only a question of 
a few weeks or months, his one thought was how 
to best use his life so as to make an impression on 
his men, and gain such a control over them that 
they would follow him anywhere. In everything 
that he did he tried to eliminate the idea of danger 
from their minds, and to make the most dangerous 
exploit appear as an ordinary every-day affair. His 
bandsmen were kept up to their full strength, and 
their musical instruments as carefully inspected as 
the men's arms ; when they went into battle it was 
with colors flying and the bands in their parade po- 
sitions, with orders to play till they had not a gasp 
of breath in their bodies. At the battle of Shenova 
he moved over the snowy ground in this order, and 
got over thirty per cent, of his musicians killed and 
wounded. But this device of giving to a bloody 
assault the air of a customary afternoon parade, 
helped not a little to encourage the men to do their 
usual part in it. 

All these little affectations were mere superfi- 
ciary, calculated and employed for their effect on 
his men ; but behind and below all this, forming the 



142 



Army Life in Russia. 



solid structure on which these airy trifles rested, was 
his stupendous military genius. I use the words 
advisedly, and firmly believe that should he live 
twenty years more he will be commander-in-chief 
in the next war about the Eastern question, and his- 
tory will then speak of him as one of the five great 
soldiers of this century, side by side with Napo- 
leon, Wellington, Grant, and Moltke. 

Napoleon defined the requisite qualities for a 
great general to be, first, greatness of character, or 
moral courage, which produces resolution ; second, 
coolness, or physical courage, which masters dan- 
ger; third, a well-grounded knowledge of the guid- 
ing principles of his profession ; and fourth, and 
above all, the capacity to see things as they are, and 
not to make pictures in his mind. 

Although all these men have differed widely in 
their personal character and in the bent of their 
minds, yet they have all possessed these qualities in 
an eminent degree. And Skobeleff possesses them 
all, no less eminently. But without trying to pene- 
trate what the future has in store for him, he al- 
ready belongs to history. Though he has lived but 
thirty-five years, he has commanded twenty thous- 
and men in battle ; he has received the surrender of 
an entire army of nearly forty thousand ; he has led 
more assaults than any living man but Grant, and 
in no one of them has he failed to carry the line he 



Russian Generals. 



H3 



assaulted, though in one case he was subsequently 
overwhelmed with numbers and driven out. His 
name is forever linked with the battles of Lovtcha, 
Plevna, and Shipka, and with the Russio-Turkish 
War of 1877-78. 

The two other generals whom this war brought 
to the front were Radetzky and Gourko, both of 
whom have made good records, but who will never 
rise into the first rank of great commanders. 
/Radetzky was born in 1820, and was therefore fifty- 
seven years old during the war. He had seen service 
in the Hungarian campaign of 1849, an< ^ at various 
periods in the Caucasus, but he had not been in the 
Crimean war. He commanded the Eighth Army 
Corps from the beginning to the end of the war in 
Bulgaria. It was this corps which forced the pas- 
sage of the Danube, and which held on to the Ship- 
ka Pass with such heroic tenacity from its first cap- 
ture, in July, till the final capture of the Turkish 
army opposing it, in the following January. He is 
not a man of brilliant abilities, but is greatly endowed 
with those stubborn qualities of determination and 
perseverance which have made the name of George 
H. Thomas memorable in our own history ; and, like 
him, he was unwearying in his devotion to his men, 
and his kindly, fatherly solicitude for their welfare. 

Gourko is eight years the junior of Radetzky, and 
was not quite fifty during the war ; he has been all 



144 



Army Life in Russia. 



his life a cavalry officer of the guards, and had seen 
service as a subaltern in the Crimea and as a col- 
onel in the Polish insurrection of 1863. At the 
beginning of the war he commanded the Second Cav- 
alry Division of the Guard, but before this was 
mobilized he came to the field as a volunteer, and 
was selected by the Grand Duke Nicholas to com- 
mand the advance-guard which pushed forward 
over the Balkans immediately after the passage of 
the Danube. The success which he attained in this 
expedition is known to all the world, and it was a 
success due entirely to his own energy and skill. 
On the conclusion of this expedition he resumed 
command of his own division, which was then on 
the way to the field, but a few weeks later he 
was selected to replace an incompetent general in 
command of all the cavalry assembled in rear of 
Plevna. Not long afterward the guard and grena- 
diers arrived as re-enforcements, and Gourko sub- 
mitted to Todleben his plan of capturing the 
redoubts which guarded Osman's line of commu- 
nications, and converting the paper blockade o: 
Plevna into a real one. Gourko received commanc 
of all the troops destined to accomplish this, anc 
for the first time in his life he had a large body of 
infantry (forty-four battalions) under his command 
He attacked these redoubts, carried them, and com- 
pleted a tight investment — but at a terrible sacri- 



Russian Generals. 



145 



fice. In the principal redoubt, Gorni-Dubnik, the 
Turks had but 4,000 men in all ; Gourko brought 
nearly 16,000 against it, and in the assault lost 
116 officers and over 3,000 men! The blow was 
a heavy one, for the troops were all picked regi- 
ments of the guards, and their officers nearly all 
belonged to the nobility ; it brought the suffer- 
ings of war home to the higher classes in a way 
they had previously had no idea of. The fault 
was not so much Gourko's, but rather that of the 
men themselves and their subordinate officers ; yet 
it was a generous fault, for they had rushed forward 
impetuously in advance of their orders, filled with 
the pride of their birth and position. But the 
breech-loader is no respecter of persons, and there 
was a wail of lamentation throughout St. Peters- 
burg and Moscow. 

The sanguinary result of this affair, and the male- 
dictions which fell on Gourko's head from the wid- 
ows and orphans, seem to have made a great im- 
pression on him. After that he was as untiring as 
ever in his own restless activity ; he gave his men no 
respite of long marches, and bold, quick movements; 
but he never again led them to a vigorous assault. 
He commanded a semi-independent army of 80,000 
men during the winter, and was the first to cross the 
Balkans, by turning the enemy's position near 
Sophia; after this he followed them energetically, 
7 



146 



Army Life in Russia. 



and in the three days' battle of Philippopolis he 
completely routed and dispersed them. The whole 
of his campaign was a series of admirably executed 
turning movements, but the losses in battle were 
less than from freezing. Had he thrown his whole 
force impetuously upon Valentine Baker's position 
at Taskossen, and, though he lost 5,000 men or 
even more in the assault, carried this position by 
ten o'clock in the morning instead of late in the 
afternoon, he would have come squarely across the 
one line of retreat of the main Turkish army, and in 
all probability would have captured the army in 
bulk just as the Shipka army was captured. But 
he nursed his men, losing only about 500 in all, and 
the Turks escaped. Though he routed and dis- 
persed them two weeks later, yet they still lived, 
and not as prisoners of war ; five months afterward 
they stood facing him with arms in their hands in 
the growing fortifications of Constantinople, and 
they formed the veteran nucleus of the army 
which at that time rendered Constantinople safe 
against a coup de main. 

Gourko is the least popular of the Russian gen- 
erals : his manner is brusque, he is very harsh with 
his men, and never pays personal attention to their 
wants. The men worshiped Skobeleff as a legend- 
ary hero, they loved Radetzky as a kind-hearted 
father, but they never developed any personal affec- 



Russian Generals. 



147 



tion for Gourko. He is a man of restless, untiring 
energy, a high order of abilities, and he has ren- 
dered services of the greatest value ; but he never 
made himself one with his men. He has the brains 
of a leader, but lacks those qualities which gain 
men's affections. 

It would, of course, be idle, in speaking of the 
Russian generals, to pass by General Todleben, who 
is the first military engineer of his age. But to be 
the first engineer is not to be the first general. His 
great and lasting fame was made in those days 
when, as a colonel of engineers and a major-general 
at thirty-seven, he was the guiding genius of the 
defense of Sevastopol. In the last war he was 
called to the army only to direct the siege of Plevna. 
All the details of the latter part of the siege are 
due to him, and the credit of the final success is 
largely his. But he was present at only one battle 
— that in which the Turks finally tried to break out 
— and he was, so to speak, out of sympathy with all 
the aggressive features of the war. His counsel 
was always on the side of prudence ; he had a large 
" factor of safety " in all his plans, and he advised 
against that bold and successful winter campaign 
which alone brought the war above the dead level 
of mediocrity and placed it in the list of brilliant 
campaigns. He was not quite sixty years old at 
the time Plevna fell. He has grown stout with ad- 



143 



Army Life in RiLssia. 



vancing years, but he is still full of activity, both 
physical and mental. In personal appearance he 
bears a strong resemblance to Bismarck, and is a 
man who at once impresses you by his agreeable 
manners, polished address, and dignified bearing. 
After the treaty of San Stefano, when the Grand 
Duke Nicholas gave up the command of the army, 
Todleben came to Constantinople to succeed him ; 
but his ability as commander-in-chief was never put 
to the test, for hostilities were not resumed. 

I have previously spoken of the men who by their 
abilities alone forced themselves to the front ; but in 
the three great military empires, and most of all in 
Russia, every prince of the reigning family is care- 
fully educated as a soldier ; when he attains ma- 
turity he becomes, ex-officio, a great general, just as 
he is lord lieutenant or governor-general of a prov- 
ince, or councilor of state. On the outbreak of a 
war the great commands are usually given to princes. 
It is foreign to my purpose to argue the advan- 
tages and disadvantages of such a system ; under 
the existing conditions of such governments there 
are far more advantages in it than we Americans 
would suppose ; it is, in fact, almost a necessity of 
the system. In such cases the commander-in-chief 
directs his army as the Emperor rules his country: 
i.e., by his own will, if he be a strong man — by the 
advice of his counselors, if he be weak. 



Russian Generals. 



149 



Under this system twelve members of the Impe- 
rial family came to the army, occupying positions 
from commander-in-chief to aid-de-camp with the 
rank of captain. One of them, the Grand Duke 
Serge of Leuchtenberg, nephew of the Emperor, 
was killed in a reconnaissance. 

The most important were the Emperor's brother 
Nicholas, who was commander-in-chief of the troops 
in Bulgaria, and his three eldest sons — the Cesare- 
vitch Alexander, who commanded the left wing of 
the army; Vladimir, who commanded a corps under 
him ; and Alexis, who, as rear admiral, commanded 
all the naval operations on the Danube. 

The Grand Duke Nicholas was forty-six years old 
at the beginning of the war ; he is a man of remark- 
ably frank and genial nature, and the exact opposite 
of his brother the Emperor in the apparent ease 
with which he carried his responsibilities. He has 
a soldierly bearing and a soldier's nature, and, had 
he not been a grand duke, would probably have 
made a dashing leader of a cavalry division. While 
no one ever claimed that his military talents alone 
would have made him a commander-in-chief, yet, 
under the system which I have referred to, it is 
doubtful if any general could have been selected 
who would have been more acceptable to the army, 
or who would have better fulfilled his difficult task. 
It is impossible to be jealous of the Emperor's 



150 



Army Life in Russia. 



brother. Unfortunately, he selected for the chief 
of his staff and his assistant two men of very me- 
diocre abilities. The first was never more than a 
chief clerk, and the second was reduced to being 
one after having committed two or three crass blun- 
ders early in the campaign. Yet these two men, 
whose incompetency nobody disputed, were, for 
reasons never fully understood, retained in their 
places to the end of the campaign. As a result, the 
Grand Duke was practically without any staff at all. 
While the campaign waited for the fall of Plevna, 
Todleben supplied the place of chief of staff; after 
that there virtually was none. 

At the close of the war the Grand Duke returned 
to St. Petersburg, almost the most unpopular man 
in Russia. The cause of his unpopularity lay in the 
growing discontent of the Russians, who feared that 
the results of the war were being lost by diplomacy. 
They blamed him in unmeasured terms for not hav- 
ing occupied Constantinople — an act which would 
certainly have embroiled Russia in war with Eng- 
land and Austria, and to no purpose — and sought to 
trace the responsibility of all the early delays of the 
war directly to him ; whereas, in fact, they were due 
to the insufficiency of the force with which the war 
was begun against the Grand Duke's remonstrances. 
No people are more given to criticism for its own 
sake than the Russians, and particularly when their 



Russian Generals. 



wounded vanity is in question ; but it passes over 
in due time. The day will soon come when the 
Russians will realize that their war would have been 
a dead failure but for the winter campaign, and 
they will acknowledge their just debt of gratitude to 
the Grand Duke Nicholas, who undertook that cam- 
paign against the advice of those most entitled by 
their position and experience to give it. 

The Cesarevitch, at the age of thirty-four, com- 
manded from first to last the two corps to whom 
was intrusted the task of masking the Turkish fort- 
resses on the left flank of the Russian advance. 
Assisted by an able chief of staff, about fifteen years 
older than himself — from whom, however, there is 
no reason to suppose that he received any more 
assistance than a commanding general always de- 
rives from a good chief of staff — he fulfilled this 
most important duty in a thoroughly satisfactory 
manner ; and although the. many battles in which 
his troops were engaged have been forced into the 
back-ground by the bloodier deeds around Plevna 
and Shipka, yet his military achievements are well 
known in Russia, and have greatly increased the 
popularity, as well as the respect, with which he is 
regarded by the army and the Russian people gen- 
erally. 



CHAPTER VII. 



WAR CORRESPONDENTS. 

The position of a newspaper correspondent, rep- 
resenting one of the great journals, and writing 
daily history for an audience of hundreds of thou- 
sands of people, by whom he is believed much more 
readily than those even who are making the history, 
is, as I have said, one of great responsibility. The 
class of men who hold these positions is every day 
growing in responsibility, in their qualifications for 
their work, in the value which is set upon their ser- 
vices, and in the consideration and dignity with 
which they are treated. Their duties require abil- 
ity of a high order, a keen judgment of men and 
events, readiness and skill in literary composition, 
energy, courage, and indifference to hardship. The 
more consideration is shown to them, the more 
facilities are given to them for writing of events 
where publicity is possible, so much the more will 
men of a high order enter their ranks, and so much 
the better will they do their work, to the benefit of 
the whole world. 

I believe that no one was more fitted for this 

152 



War Correspondents. 153 



work, or has yet done it better, than J. A. MacGa- 
han. He was born in Ohio, where his parents still 
reside, about thirty-eight years ago. Of his early 
life I know nothing. He first turned up in Europe, 
at the time of the Paris Exposition of 1867, as a 
correspondent of the New York Herald. Three 
years later he followed the Franco-Prussian war in 
the same capacity. In 1873 he succeeded, after the 
greatest difficulties, in getting permission at St. 
Petersburg to accompany the expedition to Khiva. 
He traveled, in company with Mr. Eugene Schuyler, 
as far as Fort Perovsky, on the Syr Daria, where 
they parted ; Schuyler going on to Tashkend, and 
MacGahan setting out to make his way across the 
desert and overtake Kaufmann's column, which was 
supposed to be on the Oxus. With two or three 
Kirghiz, and twice as many horses, he started to 
cross the sandy, trackless desert, known as the 
Kyzil Kum, with the intention of reaching the 
Oxus, the nearest point of which was over four 
hundred miles distant ! He hoped, on reaching this 
river, to fall in with the Russian column, but the 
chances were equal that he fell in with the Khivans 
or some band of Turkomen. 

After he had ridden three hundred and fifty miles 
he finally came upon the trail of Kaufmann's column, 
at a small post called Kala-ata, which Kaufmann 
had left behind him. Here he was arrested by the 

7* 



154 



Army Life in Russia. 



commandant, and held in confinement until instruc- 
tions should be received as to what should be done 
with him. But he knew that, long before these in- 
structions could arrive, the Russians would be in 
Khiva, and he determined not to have the object of 
his long journey defeated at the critical moment by 
the assumed authority of a subordinate. He man- 
aged to escape from the little post during the night, 
and, although Cossacks were sent out in pursuit of 
him, he eluded their search ; and at last, after a 
journey of thirty days in which two of his horses 
had perished of thirst, he came in sight of the Oxus 
— but only to hear the noise of a battle between 
Kaufmann's men and the Turkomen who were 
hovering about them. He rode on as cautiously as 
possible, and had the good luck to fall into the 
hands of some Kirghiz allies of the Russians, in- 
stead of the hostile Turkomen. He thus reached 
Kaufmann's head-quarters in safety, and was re- 
ceived with hospitality and admiration. 

The story of this wonderful ride has been told 
with equal modesty and skill by MacGahan himself, 
in his interesting book, " Campaigning on the 
Oxus," but we must look to others to know how it 
was appreciated in the Russian camp. The fame of 
it spread throughout Central Asia, and it became 
one of the most celebrated exploits of the whole 
campaign. It would never have been credited — 



War Correspondents. 



155 



so impossible did it seem for a man to make such 
a journey alone — but for the two incontrovertible 
facts that he disappeared suddenly from the little 
post on the Syr Daria, and reappeared as if from 
the heavens four weeks later among Kaufmann's 
men on the Oxus. 

Schuyler says of it, " His ride across the desert 
was spoken of everywhere in Central Asia as by far 
the most wonderful thing that had ever been done 
there, as he went through a country which was sup- 
posed to be hostile, knowing nothing of the roads 
or of the language. Even the officer whose scouts 
had failed to catch MacGahan, from whom long 
afterward, on coming from Khokand, I first heard of 
my companion's safe arrival at Khiva, was delighted 
at his pluck, and used the significant Russian ex- 
pression, Molodetz — a brave young fellow — the great- 
est possible praise under such circumstances."* 

After the conclusion of the Khivan campaign, 
MacGahan returned to Europe and wrote the " Cam- 
paigning on the Oxus." He was then transferred 
to Spain during the Carlist war, and had an amus- 
ing experience in being arrested and irnprisoned on 
suspicion as a spy, which came very near, however, 
to having a sudden and tragic termination. 

After he left Spain he joined a yachting party 
which went to Iceland in the yacht " Pandora" dur- 

* Schuyler's Turkestan, vol. i., p. 66. 



i 5 6 



Army Life in Russia. 



ing the summer of 1875. Of this he has given us a 
very readable account in his " Under the Northern 
Lights," one of the most charming books of its kind 
in the English language. 

We find him then, at the end of ten years' travel 
from one end to the other of Europe and beyond its 
borders, familiar with men and affairs, a ready and 
accomplished writer, speaking French and German 
fluently, and having no small knowledge of the Rus- 
sian language, and an intimate knowledge of the Rus- 
sian character. He was well prepared for the work 
in which he now engaged, and in which he lost his life. 

In the meantime affairs had been growing more 
and more critical in Turkey, and it was evident that 
another acute period of the " Eastern Question" 
was approaching. MacGahan took service in the 
London Daily News and went to Constantinople, 
where, immediately on his arrival, he heard those 
stories of massacres in Bulgaria which were then 
floating -about Constantinople, and a portion of 
which had been telegraphed to England, though with 
some doubts as to their accuracy. He immediately 
determined to proceed to the locality and investi- 
gate the matter on the spot. He persuaded Mr. 
Schuyler, then consul-general in Turkey, to accom- 
pany him ; they proceeded to Philippopolis, and from 
there, either in common or separately, they visited 
every portion of the insurrectionary district. From 



War Correspondents. i$y 



here MacGahan wrote those celebrated accounts, 
the substantial accuracy of which has never been 
successfully impeached, of the " Bulgarian mas- 
sacres," which astonished and horrified the civilized 
world, and which were far more potent than any 
other cause in bringing about the recent war, and 
the liberation of the greater part of Bulgaria from 
Turkish rule. 

But for MacGahan, or some other correspondent 
who would have done what he did, the tale of these 
barbarities would have been hushed up by the 
Turks, a truce with Servia might have been patched 
up, and the Eastern question allowed to slumber 
again for another twenty years without any progress 
being made toward its final solution. No more 
marked instance could be cited of the influence, of 
which I have spoken, of correspondents upon public 
opinion, and public opinion upon the course of 
events. The manner in which the policy of the 
British cabinet was deranged by the storm of indig- 
nation against the Turks which these outrages raised 
in England is a matter of common notoriety. 

MacGahan remained in Constantinople, and at 
the close of the year (1876) the conference met to 
deliberate on the affairs of Turkey. During the 
whole of this he was received on terms of unusual 
consideration by all the plenipotentiaries, particu- 
larly General Ignatieff and Lord Salisbury. When 



153 



Army Life in Russia. 



this conference broke up in failure MacGahan re- 
paired to St. Petersburg, knowing that war was in- 
evitable, and made his way to Kishineff, where the 
Russian troops were assembled. 

On the outbreak of the war he moved forward 
with the army, and remained with it uninterruptedly 
until his death in Constantinople, in June, 1878. 
He was with Gourko in his first passage of the Bal- 
kans, at Shipka in August, at the great battles of 
Plevna in July and September, at Osman's sortie in 
August and at the surrender in December, and at 
the first battles in Gourko's second expedition to- 
ward the Balkans in November. During the whole 
campaign he suffered greatly from a severe injury 
to his leg, caused by the falling of his horse in the 
Balkans in July ; and after the fall of Plevna he 
was delayed so long at Bucharest by the aggravat- 
ing nature of this injury, which had resulted in stif- 
fening the knee-joint, that he was unable to over- 
take the rapidly advancing columns before they 
reached Adrianople. He arrived at Constantinople 
with the advance-guard in February. 

I first met him in a way that was characteristic 
of his quiet, unobtrusive character. In company 
with several other foreign officers, I was traveling 
on the 31st of August from the head-quarters at 
Gorni Studen toward Plevna, where the great battle 
was expected. About midnight we had stopped at 



War Correspondents. 159 



the bank of a little stream and lain down for a few 
hours' sleep. At daylight, just as we were waking 
up, a rough, shaggy pony, carrying a man wrapped 
in a large ulster and wearing the correspondent's 
badge on his arm, came ambling along the road and 
stopped to speak to us. It was MacGahan, who 
had passed the previous day in watching the battle 
in which Osman attacked the Russians at Zgalevit- 
za, on the east of Plevna, had written his dispatches 
during the early part of the night, taken a few 
hours of sleep, and started off at two o'clock in the 
morning to carry the dispatches forty-five miles to 
the Danube, where he had a courier waiting to 
carry them to Bucharest, the first point where 
they could reach a wire open to ordinary business. 
He gave us a short but clear account of the fight, 
and, mounting his pony, ambled off again. The 
next morning his account of the battle was read by 
every one in London and New York. 

MacGahan was universally esteemed by the whole 
Russian army, throughout the length and breadth 
of which his name was as familiar as a household 
word by reason of his exploits in Central Asia. 
The secret of this popularity lay in the simple fact 
that he applied the plain rules of ordinary morals 
and common honesty to his calling as a correspon- 
dent. No one has criticised more freely than he 
the mistakes of the campaigns or the faults of indi- 



160 Army Life in Russia. 

vidual men, but he never did so with malice, he 
never used his paper to ventilate personal revenge ; 
his criticisms were the result of long and intense 
thought, and were an honest judgment founded on 
the best information he could obtain. Not one of 
them ever gave offense, and I have heard the jus- 
tice of some ot the most severe of them freely ac- 
knowledged by the Russians themselves. Con- 
sidering the haste with which that large portion 
of the two volumes of the " War Correspondence 
of the Daily News " which came from his pen was 
necessarily written, there is remarkably little in it 
which even at this day needs correction. He ap- 
plied this same rule of honest, manly dealing in 
utterly rejecting that theory of certain journalists 
who disgrace their profession by maintaining in 
practice the principle that news, being the com- 
modity of their business, and priority in publishing 
it being the first essential of their success, is to be 
obtained in any manner whatever, not even omit- 
ting means which would be considered utterly dis- 
honorable in any other business or profession. 
According to the practice of these men, whatever 
they overhear by chance, whatever they learn at a 
dinner or at other times when men are off their 
guard, whatever is told to them under the trust of 
secrecy, is to be used as freely as their notions of its 
value may seem to require. Otherwise, they reason, 



War Correspondents. 161 



some one else will in some way get an inkling of it, 
and then they have lost a piece of property ; for 
fresh news is the article they deal in, and stale news 
has no market value. 

All such ideas as these MacGahan condemned, 
not so much in words as in his acts, for he never 
once employed any of them. In the intimacy 
which he enjoyed with more than one Russian offi- 
cer of high rank, he became possessed of unusual 
information, not only of what had already tran- 
spired, but also of what was planned for the future. 
Not once did he betray a confidence, and never did 
he commit an indiscretion in using the abundant 
material which came into his hands. 

Facts which it was indiscreet to publish at the 
moment, and which a few weeks later, in the rush 
of events, had lost their value as news, he was con- 
tent to store away for some future time, when they 
might be used in a continuous history of the war 
which he proposed writing. 

MacGahan was a man of a wonderfully sweet 
and gentle nature, almost womanly in tenderness, 
though he never lacked for a man's strength in all 
he wrote and did. Often, in the midst of his corre- 
spondence, he turns aside at the end of some long 
discussion of politics, or narrative of battle, to de- 
scribe some touching little incident. He had an 
equable temper, never fretted, never worried over 



Army Life in Russia. 



his hardships, never nursed his anger against any 
man. He met every one frankly — not failing in the 
respect due to high rank or position, but not over- 
awed by the mere greatness of the person with 
whom he was talking. He had an acute penetra- 
tion, which enabled him to detect quite readily the 
dust which some persons attempted to throw in his 
eyes, under the guise of unusual confidence. 

His death was suduen, although mainly due to 
overwork during a long period. He came in from 
camp to Constantinople to nurse me when I was ill 
of the typhoid fever. Two days later he fell ill 
himself, the disease taking the form of the typhus 
with spots ; it attacked his brain, which was the 
most vulnerable part of him by reason of long-pro- 
tacted mental strain, and he died in convulsions at 
the end of a week. On the nth of June, 1878, he 
was buried in the little Greek cemetery on the hill 
behind Pera, his funeral being attended by the 
United States minister and other members of the 
legation, by the officers of the U. S. S. Dispatch, 
then in the harbor, and by a large number of Rus- 
sian officers, prominent among whom was General 
Skobeleff. Masses were said for the repose of his 
soul in St. Petersburg and at other points in Russia. 

No man of his age has in recent years done more 
to bring honor on the name of American, through- 
out the length and breadth of Europe, and far into 



War Correspondents. 



163 



Asia; no man has more faithfully served the Eng- 
lish-speaking races, by telling them the truth about 
great events in an attractive form in their daily 
papers. His letters may be studied as models by 
those who propose to adopt his profession, and his 
sterling character, his pluck, and his energy, by 
every man who aims at honest success in any walk 
of life. 

At the beginning of the war, the Russian military 
authorities received the press in a way that it has 
probably never been received before. Regulations 
were drawn up, which permitted any regularly ac- 
credited correspondent of a responsible journal to 
accompany the army, provided he agreed in writing 
to a few simple rules. The principal of these were 
that he should always carry on his person his pho- 
tograph, on the back of which was written his au- 
thority to accompany the army, as a sort of passport 
by which he might at any time be identified ; that 
he should wear a band around his arm bearing the 
word " Correspondent " in Russian letters, and his 
number, and that he should give his word of honor 
not to report the numbers of troops, the intended 
movements of the army, or any other information 
which might compromise its success. As it only 
required about forty-eight hours for news from the 
Russian head-quarters to reach the Turkish camps, 
via London and Constantinople, the propriety of 



164 



Army Life in Russia^ 



such a pledge could not be questioned. The object 
of the badge and the photograph was to give the 
correspondent a known status in the army, which 
would protect him from accidents, as well as let 
every one know with whom they were conversing. 
It is probable that some more efficient means might 
be devised for this purpose, such as compelling 
them to wear an entire uniform of a distinctive 
character; and considering the good or harm which 
may result from their letters, and the impossibility 
of supervising them before they are sent, it would 
not be asking too much to require them to sign 
their names to whatever they write. The position 
and responsibility of every man about an army 
should be sharply defined. 

Something over eighty correspondents joined the 
army under these conditions, about one-third of 
whom were Russians. The London Times sent in 
succession three officers of the army — Colonel C. B. 
Brackenbury, R.A. ; Colonel Sir Henry Havelock, 
M.P., and Captain Herbert — as special military cor- 
respondents, in addition to its regular correspond- 
ent, Mr. E. M. Grant, an ex-officer of U. S. Vol- 
unteers, who followed the whole campaign, and 
who had been in the East for the two previous 
years, and had accompanied the Servian troops in 
the field, and to several others who acted under 
his orders. 



War Correspondents. 



i6 5 



The London Daily News sent Mr. MacGahan, 
Mr. Archibald Forbes — who had previously followed 
the German armies in 1870, and subsequently was 
with the English troops in Afghanistan and Zulu- 
land — and Mr. F. D. Millet, an American artist re- 
siding in Paris, who desired to see the war for the 
studies it might afford him in his own profession, 
but who was also specially fitted for his position by 
his literary skill. 

The Telegraph and Standard, Illustrated Nezvs 
and Graphic, various other papers in England and 
Scotland, several papers in America, in France, and 
in Germany were also represented, some of the lat- 
ter by officers of the army. 

All the great papers had a special office or 
" bureau " in Bucharest, the nearest large town, 
through which their telegrams were received from 
the field, and their other business transacted, in- 
cluding supplying their correspondents with the 
necessary money for their expenses, which were 
sometimes enormous. Several of these papers had 
a regularly organized line of couriers to carry their 
telegrams from the field to Bucharest. 

When it is remembered that some of the corre- 
spondents received $10,000 a year, besides, all their 
personal expenses ; that they had a wagon, tent, and 
complete camp outfit, three or four saddle-horses 
and equipments, one or two servants, four or five 



Army Life in Russia. 



couriers — all at the expense of the paper — and that 
they often sent telegrams of two and three thou- 
sand words for a distance of as many miles, some 
idea may be gained of the expense which a " lead- 
ing daily " can afford, in order to give the world its 
news before breakfast. 

Of all the correspondents, none achieved so large 
a reputation as Mr. Forbes. Every one remembers 
those graphic accounts which he sent from the bat- 
tle-field itself, so clear in every detail that whoever 
read them felt as if he had the original scene before 
his eyes. In power of picturesque description of 
this sort with the pen, it is doubtful if he has an 
equal in the world. No small measure of his suc- 
cess is also due to the fact that he arrived in Eng- 
land while the war was still at its height ; as people 
listened to his lectures or read his articles at the 
same time that fresh news was coming in from the 
same fields, they felt that the actual reality of the 
war was brought closer before them. He left the 
army, however, on the morrow of the great repulse 
at Plevna, and the conclusions which he formed 
about the Russians and about the course of the cam- 
paign were founded on somewhat incomplete data. 

Of these eighty correspondents about half were 
at the front throughout the summer, and the 
greater part of them exposed themselves with the 
utmost fearlessness in battle, and endured the great- 



War Correspondents. 167 



est hardships without flinching. One of them, Mr. 
Millet, received a decoration for extraordinary 
bravery in aiding the wounded under a very hot 
fire. For the other half, the comforts of Bucharest 
possessed the greater attraction. They came to 
the army occasionally, visited the camps and hospi- 
tals, studied the Russian character, and went back 
to Bucharest to digest their studies. But when the 
winter came on, the ardor of nearly all was be- 
numbed, and their interest began to flag. Some 
went back to Paris and London, others remained in 
Bucharest. But only four of them, MacGahan, 
Grant, Millet, and Villiers — the latter representing 
the Illustrated News — trudged through the snow in 
the Balkans and arrived at Constantinople with the 
troops. Of these four, the first three were Ameri- 
cans. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 

I FIRST entered Constantinople under such amus- 
ing circumstances that, although the story is en- 
tirely personal, I venture to relate it. 

After the armistice was signed on the 31st of 
January, I remained with the advanced guard under 
Gen. Skobeleff, whose head-quarters were at the lit- 
tle village of Tchataldja, about thirty-five miles 
from Constantinople. Ten days later, I had passed 
through the Turkish camps in'company with a mixed 
commission of Russian and Turkish officers, who 
fixed the lines to be occupied by the outposts, and 
the " neutral zone" between them; had ridden my 
horse into the waters of the Black Sea one day and 
of the Marmora the next, and had caught a glimpse 
in the distance of the glittering domes and mina- 
rets of the ancient city. There was nothing in 
particular to do, and I began to weary of inaction 
and to long ardently to see the city itself. After 
sounding General Skobeleff on the subject, and 
learning that he had no personal objection to my 

making my way thither, though of course it must be 

168 



Constantinople. 



169 



done entirely at my own risk and on my own re- 
sponsibility, I made up my mind to quietly ride in 
through the Turkish lines. 

Early the next morning I packed my one remain- 
ing suit of presentable clothes on the horse of my 
Russian servant, strapped a Cossack cloak (boohrka) 
on my own, and in my ordinary uniform started out. 
I knew enough Russian by this time, and was suffi- 
ciently well known to Skobeleffs men, to pass the 
Russian outposts, and I felt sure that the Turks 
were quite tired enough of war to be slow in firing 
on any one approaching them during an armistice. 
The respective outposts then stood at two bridges, 
about five miles apart, on the ancient road along 
the shore of the Sea of Marmora. The Russian 
sentry saluted me as usual, but did not accost me. 
As I approached the Turks half an hour later, my 
uneasiness as to what they would do was relieved 
by seeing them turn out the whole guard ! I rode 
up slowly, the twenty men of the guard presented 
arms, I returned their salute gravely, and passed on. 
The village near this bridge was filled with soldiers 
lounging in the streets, a brigade or more of troops 
being quartered there. Most of them stopped to 
salute me, but the others paid no attention to me 
beyond a short stare of wonder. Once out of the 
village, I made a circuit through the fields in order to 
avoid a large camp, and then regained the high-road. 



170 



Army Life in Russia. 



It was a superb, cloudless day of such weather as 
we have in the Middle States in the latter part of 
April ; fresh from the snows of the Balkans and the 
filthy huts in which I had passed my nights for the 
past three months, the change was almost as great 
and as sudden as is experienced in descending in a 
few hours on the overland train from the snows of 
the Sierra Nevada to the flowers of the Sacramento 
plain. The road was crowded with endless lines of 
creaking arabas filled with refugees, or bordered 
with parties of them stopping to rest on the way- 
side ; dead animals, dead men, and broken wagons, 
the remnants of previous caravans, also lined the 
road, but the suffering which these sights suggested 
had no effect on my spirits, thoroughly intoxicated 
with the balmy air and the beautiful, warm, blue 
sky. 

Suddenly, during the afternoon, on reaching the 
summit of a hill, Constantinople stood before me in 
full view, not five miles off. In front, beyond a suc- 
cession of rolling hills and deep valleys, stretched 
the long, gray line of the ancient walls — the most 
superb ruin in existence — parts of it here and there i 
hidden from view by masses of tall, dark cypresses ; 
beyond the walls lay the white domes and tall, slen- 
der minarets of the mosques, and the masses of j 
bright-colored houses. The dwellings are all covered 
with plaster, painted in some warm tint, usually a . 



Constantinople. 



171 



light pale pink or yellow, though shades of blue are 
not uncommon ; the setting sun behind my back 
wrought these into the most gorgeous but harmoni- 
ous patches of color. Off on the right, this side of 
the Asiatic shores, lay the placid Sea of Marmora, 
which rivaled the sky in the intensity of its rich 
aquamarine blue ; out of it in the distance rose the 
bold, abrupt shores of the Princes' Islands, some of 
them covered with red ochreous clay, and others 
with immense dark groves of olive-trees; still be- 
yond them lay the range of mountains which cul- 
minates in the broad, snow-clad peak of the Asian 
Mt. Olympus. The variety of features of the land- 
scape, and particularly the intense, rich warmth of 
the coloring, combined with the softness of the air 
to make one of the loveliest pictures I have ever 
beheld. 

Continuing my ride in keen enjoyment of the 
scene, I passed through the broad belt of cemeteries 
which extends for several miles along the walls on 
the western side of the city. Nothing gives such an 
impression of the antiquity of the cities in the East, 
as the great number of cemeteries, in which every 
foot of ground is occupied, and whose silent occu- 
pants exceed so many times in numbers the living 
population of the adjoining cities. The Turkish 
graveyard, however, has none of that cold, gray 
solemnity so repulsive in our own, whose monu- 



172 



Army Life in Russia. 



ments are of cold marble or granite. The grave- 
stones are usually small, are made of sandstone, 
and brightly decorated with colors in paint or with 
long inscriptions in golden characters on a black 
background. Those marking a man's grave are sur- 
mounted by a facsimile of his head-dress — the 
ancient ones with a turban, the more modern with 
a fez, cut in the stone ; the headstones of women 
are plain slabs with a wreath of flowers at the 
top. The brilliancy of the colors contrasts well 
with the tall, dark cypresses, which are almost in- 
variably planted around them. 

As I came nearer to the walls the beauty of their 
ruins impressed itself still more strongly upon me. 
It was originally, when built by Justinian in the 
sixth century, a triple wall, the highest being thirty 
feet, each line crenelated on top and flanked at 
intervals by high towers ; in front was a broad, deep 
moat with dams at intervals to hold the water 
when flooded. Now there are long gaps where 
the masonry has crumbled and fallen, the ditch 
is used in places for a vegetable garden, and the 
wall itself is overgrown here and there with ivy. 
Twenty-three times have these same walls been be- 
sieged, and four times have they been captured. 
Here, where the ivy trails so gracefully along the 
gray masonry lit up by the setting sun, in the final 
siege and capture, the Emperor Constantine, the 



Constantinople. 



173 



last of his name and his dynasty, fell in the fierce 
struggle which put an end to the Eastern Empire 
of Rome, and firmly consolidated the Turkish 
power in Europe. 

But my mind was diverted from these thoughts 
by curiosity as to how the Turkish soldier, pacing 
under the archway of the gate, would receive me. 

I rode across the bridge quietly, as if engaged upon 
most important and legitimate business. That seem- 
ed to be his idea also, for he stopped and presented 
arms with every sign of respect. I returned his 
salute and passed through the gate into the town. 

I was, of course, entirely unfamiliar with the 
streets, though, from a careful study of the map, I 
knew they were very crooked, and I was prepared 
to find them narrow, as is common in Eastern cities. 
The sun was still half an hour high, and I hoped to 
pilot myself by its shadows so as to keep an 
easterly course, and, traversing Stamboul and the 
Golden Horn, come into the semi-European suburb 
of Pera, where I trusted to luck to find the house 
of Mr. Schuyler, who was then our Consul-General 
for Turkey. 

I soon found, however, that the streets were so 
very narrow that for long distances I got no glimpse 
of the sun or its shadows ; and as they curved 
in various directions, and were met by others at 
every variety of angle, I could only trust wholly 



174 



Army Life in Russia. 



to chance to keep the proper course. I had made 
up my mind that it would be very injudicious to 
ask any questions (my servant knew a few words 
of Turkish), and thus excite suspicions as to my 
character or business. I was still, however, in a 
comparatively unfrequented part of the town, and 
the few people on the streets paid no attention to 
me beyond a slight stare. 

Presently, on reaching an intersecting street, con- 
siderably less narrow than the others, I noticed 
that there was a horse-car track in the middle. 
The thought at once flashed across my mind that 
in all probability this railroad would lead either to 
Pera or to the Golden Horn ; so I determined to 
follow it, though it was apparently considerably off 
my course. This street proved to be the great 
main thoroughfare of the city, and before long I 
was in its most crowded part. There are only a 
few streets in Constantinople that have any side- 
walks at all, and those which do exist are only 
three or four feet wide, and utterly inadequate to 
the crowd of foot-passengers. The result is that 
people ordinarily walk in the street, and in the 
principal thoroughfares the number of pedestrians 
is so great that great persons, like ambassadors and 
ministers, have a mounted man, who precedes their 
carriage to open the way ; and even the horse cars 
find that a loud bell, incessantly ringing, is insuffi- 



Constantinople. 



175 



cient to clear the track, and at certain hours of the 
day every car is preceded by an athletic runner 
with a stout stick, who trots a short distance in 
front of the horses, blowing a loud horn, and freely 
applying his stick to all those who do not heed its 
notes. 

Through this motley throng I slowly threaded 
my way without molestation of any kind ; people 
turned their heads toward me, some stopped to 
stare, others muttered " Moscov " or " Giaour," but 
no one accosted me in any manner whatever. It 
was only when I saw this large crowd, and realized 
their calm forbearance, that I reflected what a risky 
business I was engaged in, and how foolish an 
ending it might easily have. But the Turkish char- 
acter, as I afterward learned, is a peculiar mixture 
of contemptuous tolerance and fanatic frenzy ; they 
are patient and even polite for an indefinitely long 
period, until suddenly their religious fanaticism 
is excited, perhaps by some incident of a trifling 
character, and then their mad excesses, as in 
the murder of the consuls at Salonica, know no 
bounds. 

They merely passed me by now in careless scorn, 
as not worth thinking about ; but had some urchin 
thrown a stone at me, or some hot-headed fanatic 
yelled " Down with the Giaour," as an Anglo-Saxon 
in similar circumstances might easily say " Hit the 



176 



Army Life in Russia. 



damned foreigner," the crowd would have jumped 
upon me and torn me limb from limb. 

It must be remembered that this was three days 
after the British fleet had passed the Dardanelles ; 
it was at the time when the English ambassador 
was telegraphing home that the Russian army was 
advancing on Constantinople " in spite of the arm- 
istice ;" when the city was full of the wildest rumors, 
and when no Russian had yet been seen in the 
streets. My uniform differed in general appear- 
ance from that of the Russians only in the cap, 
which it would have required an expert to detect. 
My horse had Russian equipments, and the well- 
known Russian cloak was on my saddle ; I was, 
moreover, covered with the mud of a long day's 
ride, and evidently came from the army. Every 
one took me to be a Russian officer, as was evident 
from their remarks of " Moscov." 

Two officers had, a few days before, come down 
by train from Adrianople bearing diplomatic dis- 
patches ; they had been met at the railway station 
and driven at once in close carriages to the palace 
where they were lodged. With this exception, I 
was the first man to enter Constantinople from the 
Russian army, and, as I said, I was the first one to 
appear on the streets. What would have been the 
fate of a German officer entering Paris alone during 
an armistice in the siege ? 



Constantinople. 



1/7 



I watched the crowd carefully, but rode on as if I 
was in the habit of riding there daily. There were 
many novel sights to attract my attention which I 
longed to stop and examine : the curious costumes, 
the bright little shops, now and then a gorgeous 
little fountain of marble and gold, or a magnificent 
mosque ; but all these could only be noticed with a 
glance, for I knew it would be imprudent to stop. 
The journey seemed to me a very long one, it being, 
in fact, over five miles through the town as I rode ; 
the sun had now disappeared, and though I had 
passed over one or two hills, the streets were so 
narrow and so thickly built up that I had never 
been able to get a bird's-eye view of the town and 
the Bosphorus, and thus orient myself by the map 
which was photographed in my mind. I began to 
fear that I was not going toward Pera at all, but 
that nightfall would find me still wandering around 
in a circle through the crooked streets. Finally I 
reached the mosque of St. Sophia, though I did not 
then know it from the other mosques ; here the 
street suddenly turns almost completely on itself, 
following along the walls of the old Seraglio. This 
was very discouraging, and the streets being here 
less crowded, I ventured to ride up to a drug-shop 
bearing the sign, " Hier ist Dentsch gesprochen" and 
inquire the way to Pera. But I was answered by a 
Greek — the partner, I suppose, of the one who spoke 

8* 



1 7 8 



Army Life in Russia. 



German ; I got no intelligence from him, and a 
crowd quickly collected, so I determined to push 
on at once. My suspense was soon relieved by 
coming abruptly on the Pera Bridge over the 
Golden Horn. I rode on to it with such an air of 
assurance that the man collecting toll stepped back 
and bowed to me, instead of stopping me for money, 
as he invariably did afterward. 

This bridge is one of the world-famous sights, 
and is familiar to every one who has read anything 
of modern Constantinople. It is a rickety old 
wooden structure, nearly half a mile long, resting on 
boats; its two sides are lined continuously with beg- 
gars, and between them, from sunrise to dark, surges 
an incessant throng whose numbers are counted by 
hundreds of thousands at the close of the day. In 
its blending of Europeans and Asiatics it is the type 
of Constantinople itself. Here may be seen, at any 
hour of the day, the Turkish Minister in his coach or 
on his horse, the western merchant in the dress of 
London or Paris, the Turkish priest in long robe 
and green turban, the hermaphrodite Greek mer- 
chant in Parisian coat and Turkish fez, the Jewish 
money-lender and the gayly dressed Circassian, the 
merchants from Arabia and far in Central Asia, and 
the Turkish women with the yashmak drawn tightly 
over their faces, their curious bundle of skirts lifted 
high above their ankles, disclosing ugly feet cased 



Co nst a ntinople. 



179 



in cheap French shoes, a parasol over their heads, 
and a small satchel in their hands. 

Every variety of the Semitic and Indo-European 
races here jostles each other in the course of the 
day, producing a moving and highly-colored pano- 
rama of kaleidoscopic variety. 

The diversity of shipping alongside the bridge is 
no less extraordinary. Here are the high-pooped 
little Greek junks, of the same form as that in which 
Paul set sail from Troas, side by side with the 
Mediterranean steamers of the Austrian and French 
lines, the Turkish ironclad of latest English pattern, 
and the screeching little pack-boats of the Bospho- 
rus, built on the model of those that ply from 
Dover to Calais. In and out through them all, dart 
hundreds of the graceful little caiques, with their no 
less graceful oarsmen in turban, white shirt, and 
baggy white trowsers. It is a scene of endless, 
bustling activity, full of life and color. 

Threading my way slowly through the crowd, I 
finally reached the streets of Pera. Immediately I 
was surrounded by an eager, curious crowd, com- 
posed principally of Armenian boatmen and 
hamals* I at once asked if any one spoke English 
or French. A burly Armenian pushed his way 
through the crowd and said, " Me Inglis." I told 
him I was an American, and wanted to find the 

* Baggage porters. 




180 Army Life in Russia. 

American Consulate. He answered promptly, " I 
know," and forthwith began hustling the crowd, 
opening a passage, and beckoning me to follow him. 
He led me along a street close to the Bosphorus, in 
the lower part of Galata, which I afterward dis- 
covered was largely occupied by sailors' boarding- 
houses. At the end of half a mile he stopped be- 
fore a large house, and pointing to it with an air of 
satisfaction, kept repeating, " American, American." 
The surroundings of the place seemed to me rather 
strange for a consulate, but I dismounted, and, leav- 
ing my servant with the two horses, went up the 
steps, entered an open door, and, finding no one, 
ascended a pair of stairs, and saw a large hall with 
several seats in it, and a sort of primitive stage at 
one end. 

There was no one in the hall, but presently a man, 
dressed in European clothes, but having the ap- 
pearance of a Greek, came out of a neighboring door. 
He answered me in bad French, and I told him 
I had been brought here in search of the American 
Consulate. He replied that it was not in that build- 
ing, and he did not know where it was ; that this 
was the Cafe ' chant ant Americain, or American con- 
cert and dance-house, of which he was proprietor ! 

Retracing my steps down the stairs, I found my 
servant holding the horses with a terrified air, 
surrounded by a crowd intent on examining and 



Constantinople. 



181 



feeling the horses and their equipments, and plying 
him with an infinite number of questions in various 
languages. The guide was holding forth in Arme- 
nian, with a self-satisfied manner, explaining at 
great length who I was, and all about me. The 
crowd extended for two hundred feet or more in 
each direction, completely blocking the street ; two 
horse-cars were ringing their bells, and their runners 
were blowing their horns and fighting with the 
crowd, but it refused to yield. 

I sharply accosted my guide, telling him, in phrases 
which must have increased his knowledge of the 
English language, that he was a fool, that he had 
brought me to a concert house, and that I wanted 
him to show me at once the way to the American 
Consul's. He asked me to repeat the word, and 
then his face fell ; his temporary importance van- 
ished, for he had never heard of the place. But 
from the crowd of eager listeners, another Armenian 
came forward with smiling face and an air of confi- 
dence, not unlike that of a Chinaman in San Fran- 
cisco under similar circumstances, and said, "I know 
him." I repeated the word " consul " several times 
and asked him if he was sure, but he only answered, 
" I know him," and immediately set to work to open a 
way through the crowd. I got on my horse and fol- 
lowed after him, as he led the way through a filthy 
little street not over twelve feet wide, and so steep 



182 



Army Life in Russia. 



that there was a high step in the pavement at every 
few yards. It was already quite dark, my horse 
slipped and tumbled over the wretched pavement, 
the various families of dogs who occupied this street 
in fee simple set up a tremendous howling, and be- 
hind me followed a motley crowd of not less than 
five hundred people. I had no confidence that this 
fellow who was leading me knew anything more 
about the consulate than the other one, and I began 
to have serious misgivings as to the termination of 
my adventure. My anxiety was unfounded, how- 
ever. When we had nearly climbed the steep hill, 
the guide turned down a narrow lane, and presently 
stopped before a house over the door of which I 
could just discern in the twilight a blue board bear- 
ing the spread eagle in gilt, and the welcome words, 
" Consulate of the United States of America." 
Looking back, I saw that the crowd extended up 
the whole length of the lane. I gave the guide a 
small gold piece, about equal in value to what he 
would earn in a month, and he went off with radiant 
face, gesticulating to the crowd, who followed him 
with a Babel of questions. 

Half an hour afterward I had washed, and donned 
my fresh suit of uniform, which only brought out in 
stronger contrast my unkempt hair and beard, and 
was dining at Mr. Schuyler's table. It was but a few 
weeks since I had been shivering in the snows of the 



Constantinople. 



183 



Balkans, and that same morning I had left a squalid 
hut like those in which I had been sleeping during 
the whole winter. The contrast between the 
thoughts which run through a man's mind in the 
midst of war and such surroundings as those I have 
mentioned, on the one hand, and a refined home and 
a gentleman's dinner-table on the other, was sudden 
and bewildering. 

Constantinople was at this time the center of ob- 
servation of the entire world. The Russian army, 
which but a few weeks before had been in the 
trenches before Plevna, had suddenly appeared 
almost at the gates of the city ; the English fleet lay 
in the Bay of Ismidt, three hours' steam from the 
Golden Horn ; the Russians and Turks had made an 
armistice in order to arrange a treaty on terms the 
basis of which had already been accepted by the 
Turks. The latter, for the moment, lay completely 
at the mercy of their enemy. Would he enter Con- 
stantinople? Would England declare war? Would 
the Sultan be deposed ? Was the Eastern question to 
be at last finally settled? Was the war to spread and 
involve all Europe? Nobody knew what a day would 
bring forth. Diplomats and newspaper correspond- 
ents were in the keenest state of excitement ; but 
not the least trace of it could be discerned on the 
surface of what one could see in the streets. The 
latter were thronged as usual during the day ; they 



Army Life in Russia. 



were silent and deserted during the night as the 
watchman made his rounds, striking the pavement 
with his iron-shod stick. One looked at any moment 
to see some one appear on the streets with news or 
rumors of news, to see crowds gather and discuss it, 
and give vent to their fanatical hatred of the first 
hostile army which had penetrated to Constanti- 
nople during the four centuries that the Turks had 
held possession of it. But nothing of this kind 
transpired. On the streets, in the great bazar, in 
the baths and cafes, people led their accustomed 
life, and from what one saw it would never have 
been imagined that a war was even in contempla- 
tion, much less that a great war was just terminating 
disastrously for them, and that the fate of their em- 
pire and the future of Europe were for the moment 
trembling in the balance. 

I had made arrangements immediately on my ar- 
rival by which, in case the armistice was broken, I 
could be transported in a small steamer to some 
point on the coast within the Russian lines, and then 
I gave myself up quietly to sight-seeing. A week 
later we had news that the Grand Duke and a por- 
tion of the Russian troops had occupied the little 
village of San Stefano, on the Sea of Marmora, 
about eight miles outside the walls. I immedi- 
ately proceeded thither, and found that, in conse- 
quence of the arrival of the English fleet, the Rus- 



! 



Constantinople. 



sians had made an agreement with the Turks by 
which they were to occupy a line very much nearer 
the city than that laid down in the original armis- 
tice. The Grand Duke and his staff had come 
down by train from Adrianople, and installed them- 
selves in the village, and with them had come Gen- 
eral Ignatieff, who had lately arrived from Russia 
as first plenipotentiary to negotiate the treaty of 
peace. 

The village of San Stefano is beautifully situated 
on the shore of the Sea of Marmora, and consists 
principally of about twenty or thirty large houses 
owned by wealthy Greek merchants, who live in 
them during the summer. These houses were im- 
mediately occupied by the various members of the 
numerous head-quarter staff. I was fortunate in re- 
ceiving a room in one of the largest houses facing 
the quay, which runs along the front of the village. 
Here we used to pass the afternoon enjoying the 
mild air, listening to the music of the various bands 
intermingled with the sound of the swell breaking 
against the wall, basking in the bright sunlight, and 
forgetting with marvelous rapidity the snow, the 
cold, the mud, the squalid huts, the sufferings, sick- 
ness, and death, which were our surroundings such a 
short time since. 

Small numbers of officers were now allowed to go 
by train to Constantinople ; no evil results followed, 



Army Life in Russia. 



and the number was increased, and finally the privi- 
lege was extended to enlisted men. At last four 
or five hundred would go in every day, and the 
Russian uniform was as common a sight on the 
streets, and particularly in the bazar, as that of the 
Turks themselves. Both officers and men behaved 
themselves in such an exemplary manner as to call 
forth the highest commendation, even from their 
greatest detractors among the English. There were 
no street brawls, no instances of rowdyism of any 
kind whatever. One day two officers were reported 
to have been seen intoxicated on the streets, 
though not giving offense to any one. The Grand 
Duke immediately rescinded the permission to visit 
the city. But when it was learned that these men 
had done no harm, further than to expose them- 
selves and their uniform to the criticism of inde- 
corum, the permission was gradually extended 
again under certain stringent rules. I believe that 
no second case of drunkenness was ever heard of. 

The officers spent their money lavishly in every 
direction ; the hotels and restaurants were so crowd- 
ed that there was great difficulty in getting a meal ; 
the cafes chantants (the meretricious substitute 
which Pera offers for theaters) were crowded night- 
ly, and the Jews and Armenians of the bazar found 
such customers as they had only known in their 
dreams — people who actually paid without an hour's 



Constantinople. 



i8 7 



bargaining the first price they demanded for their 
goods, which usually exceeded by four to six times 
the market value which they expected to receive. 
The Russian five-rouble piece became far more 
common than the piece of twenty francs or the 
Turkish lira ; and merchants who had means of form- 
ing a fair estimate told me three months later that 
not less than six millions of roubles in gold (about 
$4,600,000) had been paid into the various shops. 

On the 3d of March (Feb. 19th, O. S.), the an- 
niversary of the Russian Emperor's accession to 
the throne, the long haggling over the terms of the 
treaty came to an abrupt termination. The treaty 
had been all agreed to the previous night, and was 
to have been signed at one o'clock in the afternoon, 
the troops were drawn up for parade at that hour, 
and the horses of the Grand Ituke and staff stood 
saddled in front of his house. But at the last min- 
ute the Turkish plenipotentiaries raised fresh ob- 
jections and refused to sign ; couriers rushed back 
and forward between the Grand Duke's house and 
that in which Ignatieff and Savfet Pasha were de- 
liberating. The afternoon wore on, and it began to 
look as if the anniversary day would pass without 
the treaty being signed. At half-past four o'clock, 
the Grand Duke and his staff mounted and rode to 
the edge of the village, the former sending word to 
the plenipotentiaries that he would wait there till 



Army Life in Russia. 



the paper was signed. Not long afterward, one of 
his aids came running forward, bearing in his hand 
the pen still wet with the ink with which the docu- 
ment had been signed, and which he begged to 
keep as a souvenir. Following him came General 
Ignatieff, who saluted the Grand Duke, saying, 
" Your Imperial Highness, I have the honor to an- 
nounce that the treaty of peace is concluded." The 
Grand Duke pulled off his cap and shouted " Hur- 
rah," which was taken up by his staff as he went 
galloping off toward the troops. 

The latter were drawn up on an eminence just 
outside of the village, and facing Constantinople, 
which was in full view a few miles off. 

The usual form of review was held, and then, the 
Grand Duke rode out in front, and calling the 
whole body of six hundred or eight hundred officers 
about him, he announced to them the signature of 
the treaty of peace, and the end of the war. A 
grand shout of joy broke forth, which quickly 
passed to the men, who understood what it meant, 
and sent up deafening cheers ; looking back, the 
whole air seemed black with the caps which the 
men were throwing up, and I doubt if any man got 
his own cap again in the course of a week. 

A moment afterward, the Grand Duke wanted to 
say a few words more to the officers, and they be- 
gan signaling to the men with their swords to keep 



Constantinople. 



189 



silence, but the latter paid no attention ; a lot of 
aids were then sent to stop them, but it was found 
impossible. Like a fire checked in one place, the 
cheering broke out in another in a dense roar, 
drowning every other sound, so that few people 
heard what the Grand Duke had to say. It was 
only a few simple but well-chosen words, thanking 
the officers and men for their bravery and endur- 
ance, and telling them they had their reward in the 
great results which they had achieved. 

Then, after waiting a few minutes for the men to 
stop cheering from sheer exhaustion of their lungs 
the Grand Duke stepped forward to the place where 
the priests had arranged a sort of altar on the 
ground, and stood ready in their green and gold 
robes to hold service. All uncovered their heads, 
and the ordinary form of mass was chanted in mon- 
otonous tones. My next neighbor in the crowd, an 
admiral in the navy, nudged my arm, and said in 
English, " Solemn moment." I replied, " Very 
solemn ! " But in reality it was a solemn moment : 
the climax of the most momentous events which 
have taken place in the East since the Turks 
crossed the Hellespont, nearly five centuries ago — 
events involving the welfare and habitation of two 
whole races of people — liberating one race, over- 
throwing the power of the other, and preparing the 
way for their speedy exit from Europe. 



190 Army Life in Russia. 

The greatest religious ceremony of these later 
days will be the mass to be held in St. Sophia, 
when finally it is restored to the hands of Christians; 
but this not being possible now, twenty-five thou- 
sand Russians knelt at prayer with arms in their 
hands, on a spot where no Christian army had ever 
trod since the Turks conquered Constantinople, and 
looking in the dusk of twilight at that dome of St. 
Sophia which has occupied so prominent a place in 
the imagination of all their countrymen since the 
days of Catherine ! Well might the Grand Duke 
say to them, " You have reason to be proud of hav- 
ing been the instruments to accomplish such grand 
results." 

To my own mind, looking on as a foreigner 
sympathizing in their cause, but without any of the 
realizing sense of sympathy springing from personal 
interest or attachment, the affair failed of its im- 
pressiveness — first, because I had been impressed to 
my full capacity by a similar scene, which I have 
already described,* at Plevna some months before, 
and one cannot have the same emotions twice ; and 
secondly, because, although heartily glad to be out 
of the dangers and horrors of the war, and rejoicing 
also in the success of the Russian cause, which I be- 
lieved to be the cause of right, yet I could not over- 
come a strange feeling, not exactly of regret, but of 



* Page 11. 



Constantinople. 



191 



emptiness and languor, because the future seemed 
so tame and devoid of occupation. 

When one's mind has been concentrated for 
several months on one set of ideas, wondering each 
day what the next will bring forth, leading a life of 
the utmost excitement, novelty, and danger, and in- 
volving from hour to hour such fundamental ques- 
tions of fact as life and death ; when one has had 
during a considerable period a diet of such strong 
nervous food, and then suddenly sees it come to an 
end, and has to contemplate the return to a quiet 
and comparatively inactive life — after the first sigh 
of "Thank God" at the escape from danger, there 
comes an indefinable feeling of horrible dread of 
ennui. It lasts but a few days or hours before one 
returns most contentedly to his accustomed life, but 
it is none the less strong for the moment. 

Already, while the review was going on, the fol- 
lowing message from the Grand Duke to the Em- 
peror was traveling over the wires. It represented 
fairly the feelings of the army, though its phrase- 
ology sounds queerly to western ears : 

"San STEFANO, Sunday, Feb. 19 (Mar. 3), 5 P. M. 

" I have the good fortune to congratulate Your 
Imperial Majesty on the occasion of the signing of 
the peace. God has granted to us, Sire, to accom- 
plish the great, the holy mission that you had 



192 



Army Life in Russia. 



assumed. It is on this anniversary day of the 
emancipation of the Russian peasants that Your 
Majesty has liberated the Christians from the Mus- 
sulman yoke. Nicholas." 

Immediately after the conclusion of peace the 
Grand Vizier and other high Turkish officials, both 
civil and military, came out to San Stefano to pay 
their respects to the Grand Duke, and negotiations 
were at once begun to arrange a visit of the Grand 
Duke to the Sultan. But questions of etiquette and 
other details delayed it for more than three weeks. 
Finally it was arranged that the Grand Duke and 
staff should proceed to Constantinople by water and 
be received by the Sultan at his palaces on the Bos- 
phorus, after which they would land and be driven 
to the Russian Embassy, and pass the night there. 

On a beautiful bright morning the Grand Duke 
and about seventy-five members of his staff em- 
barked on board the Emperor's yacht " Livadia," 
and another vessel which had meanwhile arrived 
from the Black Sea, and we steamed around Seraglio 
Point into the Bosphorus. The harbor presented a 
gay scene, the Turkish men-of-war and all the for- 
eign stationnaires displaying their bunting and man- 
ning the yards. Opposite the palace of Dolma-Batche, 
about three miles above Pera, the ships stopped and 
the Grand Duke went ashore in a state caique, being 
received at the landing by the Sultan. The ships 



Constantinople. 



193 



then continued their way a few miles up the Bos- 
phorus to the palace of Beyler-bey, on the Asiatic 
shore. Here we all went ashore, and a half hour 
later were joined by the Grand Duke, at whose dis- 
posal this palace had been placed in order to allow 
the Sultan to make a return visit. This palace, 
although small, containing not more than thirty 
rooms, is one of the most exquisite of all those which 
line the shores of the Bosphorus. It was built com- 
paratively recently, and was completely renovated in 
1867 for the Empress Eugenie, who occupied it dur- 
ing her visit to Constantinople. A sea-wall runs 
along the Bosphorus in front of it, at each end of 
which is a little kiosk, or " summer house," whose 
sides are almost wholly of glass, the interior fur- 
nished with a broad divan in blue and straw-colored 
satin, on which one could easily be content to pass 
hours in simply watching the beautiful stream. Be- 
hind the wall is a series of gardens surrounding the 
palace, rilled with flowers and fountains, and rising 
in tiers above one another on the abrupt hill. At 
the top of this are cages of wild animals of various 
kinds, one of which contained at that time a far- 
famed tiger of great beauty and wonderful size. The 
palace stands in the midst of the lower terrace of 
the garden, not over two hundred feet from the edge 
of the stream ; it is three stories high, built of pure 
white marble in the ornate style of the renaissance, 
9 



i 9 4 



Army Life in Russia. 



which is well fitted to a building of its small size. 
Ascending the steps, we passed through a broad ves- 
tibule into the grand central hall, which was about 
fifty by sixty feet, and extended up to a highly 
decorated skylight in the roof. The galleries of the 
floors above were upheld by marble columns, and 
the walls, floor, and ceiling were also of marble. In 
the center was a grand fountain, the basin of which 
was about twenty-five feet in diameter, and which 
had innumerable small jets playing from the side 
and from a group of figures in the center, produc- 
ing that moisture in the air and that gentle sound 
of rippling water which are so agreeable and sooth- 
ing to the senses in hot weather. 

The various rooms opened off of this main central 
hall, and into one of them we were shown, where we 
were served with coffee, and every variety of sweets 
and wine, several of the large dishes being of solid 
gold. 

After partaking of these, we were asked to walk 
about the palace, pending the arrival of the Sultan. 
The rooms were all in keeping with the hall which I 
have described. One of them in particular attracted 
my attention ; it was in the second story, in the cor- 
ner looking toward Constantinople ; the ceilings, 
walls, and floors were all of wood mosaics, principally 
different varieties of olive wood polished to the 
highest degree, and of a beauty of design in figures 



Constantinople. 



195 



which I have never seen rivaled. In the center of 
. the room stood one of those queer — and very un- 
healthy — articles of furniture, resembling an ancient 
brazier, which is found in nearly every Turkish house, 
and which, when filled with live coals, answers the 
I purpose of a stove. They are usually constructed 
of brass, and many of them are of handsome design. 
; But this one — which was not less than three feet 
1 high — was of a single piece of carved crystal! On 
the inside were a few metal projections on which the 
pan of coals would rest when used, and whose bril- 
i| liancy of reflection in the surrounding crystal can be 
easily imagined. 

It was a queer sight to watch the Russian officers, 
h dressed in full uniform, but not free from the rough 
appearance of men just from a campaign, striding 
over these exquisite floors of wood and marble, in 
long boots and spurs and clanking metal sabers. 

While we were still examining the building, word 
was brought of the approach of the Sultan. In for- 
mer times he used always to travel over the Bos- 
phorus in a caique of twenty-four oars, seated on a 
dais, and the rudder held by the Minister of the 
Navy. Now he usually travels in a little steam yacht 
of exquisite proportions and beautiful furniture. He 
arrived in this, and the Grand Duke met him at the 
water's edge, and they two led the way into the pal- 
ace. Nothing could be in greater contrast than these 



Army Life in Russia. 



two men. The Grand Duke is a man of about six 
feet three inches in height, with full chest and broad 
shoulders ; he was dressed in a general's full uniform, 
and wore high boots and a clanking sword. The Sul- 
tan wore a plain fez, and that peculiar single-breast- 
ed, high-buttoned black coat which the Turks in late 
years have invented to agree with western ideas, and 
adopted as their full dress ; it resembles most closely 
the conventional coat of a Methodist parson. The 
Sultan is a small man, and the top of his fez barely 
reached the Grand Duke's shoulder ; he looked hag- 
gard and frightened, and his eyes darted rapidly but 
stealthily from side to side, as if he feared injury 
from some one in the crowd. These two men walk- 
ing side by side suggested the relative position at 
that moment of the two nations they represented — 
big, burly, noisy, victorious Russia ; and weak, timid, 
humbled Turkey. 

The members of the staff were presented to the 
Sultan in the upper hall, and then the two, accom- 
panied by an interpreter, went into the room I have 
mentioned to take a cup of coffee and exchange 
compliments in a few minutes' conversation. 

The visit being over, the Sultan was escorted back 
to his yacht, and most of the staff seated themselves 
in the various imperial caiques which were in wait- 
ing. The one in which, in company with three other 
officers, I took passage, was about twenty-five feet 



Constantinople. 



197 



long, made of some wood resembling the Spanish 
cedar in color, and highly polished and oiled. It 
had ten oarsmen, sitting in pairs, dressed entirely in 
white except the red fez, and their necks and breasts 
exposed to the air. In the stern-sheets were soft 
cushions of blue satin, so low (on account of the 
crankiness of the craft) that it was necessary to re- 
cline rather than sit on them. The Sultan's caiques 
certainly surpass any row-boats in the world in their 
gorgeous splendor, and they are the equal of any in 
grace and beauty of outline. The pleasure of riding 
in them on the Bosphorus is equaled only by that 
of moving about in a gondola at Venice, or in an 
Indian canoe on our western lakes. 

On arriving at the outskirts of Pera, on the Euro- 
pean shore, we were met by carriages which con- 
veyed us into the city. The Grand Duke and a few 
others entered the Russian Embassy, whose black 
eagles over the gate had just been uncovered for the 
first time since the declaration of war, eleven months 
before. 

The war being now over, every one thought only 
of returning to Russia, and began counting the days 
to their departure. The mails came quickly direct 
from Odessa, naval and supply vessels came from 
time to time to anchor in front of San Stefano, 
news was brought that a large fleet of transports 
was being collected at Odessa to take the troops 



Army Life in Russia, 



home, and every one hastened to the bazar to buy- 
some souvenir to take home from Turkey, or hurried 
up his sight-seeing. It was announced that the 
first troops would embark on the 20th of March 
from Buyukdere. 

This is a little village on the Bosphorus, about 
half way between the Sea of Marmora and the 
Black Sea, and it was selected on account of its 
good harbor, San Stefano being perfectly open and 
without docks or piers where large ships could land. 
But, as the above date approached, the troops re- 
ceived no orders to move, and then it was learned 
that the English Ambassador had protested to the 
Turks against allowing the troops to march around 
Constantinople, on the ground that in so doing they 
would become possessed of certain positions com- 
manding the city. The Turks thereupon declined 
to allow the Russians to embark from this place. 

It being impossible to embark any number of men 
and horses from San Stefano, the contract for the 
transport fleet was revoked. A few days later, on 
April 1st, appeared Lord Salisbury's famous circu- 
lar, criticising the San Stefano treaty, and plainly 
intimating that England would not accept its 
terms. The project of embarkation was then in- 
definitely postponed. 

And now followed a curious instance, reflecting 
the highest credit upon Russian discipline, of a vie- 



Constantinople. 



torious army being held completely and absolutely 
subservient to political necessities. Having for the 
5 time being completely destroyed the military power 
. of their enemy, the Russian army had arrived in 
front of the capital of the defeated nation — a capital 
too, on which their eyes had been fixed for many 
long generations — and quietly remained there with- 
x out entering it. 

Their only desire was to return to their homes and 
families, receive congratulations for their glorious 
deeds, and resume their ordinary avocations. But 
the defeated nation, at the instance of a neutral 
power, interposed insurmountable obstacles to their 
departure. Still they remained outside, while as 
yet the capital lay entirely at their mercy, and 
could have been possessed the moment the order 
was given. Nor was this all ; for while longing only 
for home, and anxiously awaiting the development 
of diplomatic events, the remnants of the Turkish 
army were reorganized and recruited, and under 
their very eyes the Russians saw springing up, and 
growing day by day, a long line of defensive works, 
which six weeks later rendered Constantinople safe 
against a coup-de-main, and were soon afterward so 
strong that some persons deemed them invulner- 
able, and all acknowledged that they could not be 
carried in open assault without the loss of fully 
fifteen thousand men. 



200 



Army Life in Russia. 



No wonder that the spirits of the men began to 
languish. Their position was one to command the 
sympathy of every soldier; they had been in the 
field for fully a year, had fought a war marked with 
checkered successes and failures in the beginning, 
but concluded with a brilliant success, due almost 
wholly to their patient endurance of hardship ; part 
of them had marched six hundred miles without 
seeing their knapsacks and without changing their 
clothes ; their boots were dropping to pieces, and 
they had no tents; everything was, in fact, worn out 
except the guns in their hands, the cartridges in 
their pouches, and their own splendid devotion ; 
they were herded about in small villages, the little 
huts of which afforded a miserable shelter to only 
about half, leaving the rest out in the open. 

Their mental condition was quite as trying as 
their bodily discomfort. During the campaign, the 
intense excitement of rapid marching, sharp fight- 
ing, and success, had buoyed up their spirits and 
enabled them to endure what seem incredible hard- 
ships ; now they were idle, longing to go home 
to receive their reward, but kept here in perfect 
inaction, and in necessary ignorance of the object 
or result of it. 

The effect upon health of a sudden change from 
a life of intense mental and physical activity to one 
of dull inaction is well known to all physicians ; in 



Constantinople. 



201 



addition, these men had been marching for several 
weeks in intense cold, with but the one shirt which 
was on their backs ; and, finally, in their bivouacs 
the plainest principles of sanitary hygiene were ut- 
terly disregarded. Dead animals lay a few feet off, 
rotting in the spring sun for weeks before they were 
buried ; there were few latrines, and what there were 
were insufficient ; different regiments bivouacked 
along the same stream, the filth of those near its 
source being washed down into the drinking water of 
those below them. This subject was one of universal 
remark among foreigners, and there is but one word 
to apply to their bivouacs — they were simply filthy. 

All these causes combined, and produced their 
natural result. Toward the last of April every 
variety of camp fever broke forth, from the mild 
forms of malarial ague, through the typhoids to the 
typhus, and finally the typhus with spots, which is 
not greatly different from the plague. They spread 
so rapidly that throughout the months of May and 
June fully one-half of the whole Russian force near 
Constantinople lay on their backs ; so many doctors 
and nurses died that it was not unusual for one sur- 
geon to have over a thousand patients dependent 
solely on him — so large a number that, for sheer 
lack of time, the lighter cases could not be visited 
more than once in three or four days. 

Toward the latter part of June, the sickness 



202 



Army Life in Russia. 



seemed to diminish, and a month later it had near- 
ly disappeared. During these three months over 
thirty thousand sick had been transported to 
Odessa by the Red Cross Society, and those who 
remained had been provided with fresh clothing 
and tents, and had moved their camps to higher 
ground. Of the mortality of those who were dis- 
persed through the hospitals of Russia, I am unable 
to speak ; but of those who were treated on the 
spot, it was singularly small, not amounting to over 
five per cent, of the total number of those taken 
sick. 

Some of the Cossacks who returned to the Cau- 
casus carried the seeds of the disease with them, 
and, inflamed by local causes, it broke forth with 
great malignity the next spring as the plague, 
whose ravages in southeastern Russia during the 
summer of 1879 are we ^ known. 

In Count von Moltke's history of the campaign 
of 1828-29, there is given a very full account of the 
sickness which broke out in Diebitch's army after 
he had reached Adrianople, and which increased to 
such an extent that one-third of his force was help- 
lessly ill, and the rest took turns of doing military 
duty one day, and shaking with intermittent fevers 
the next. In this case, however, the mortality was 
exceptionally great, nearly forty per cent. 

The same sickness on a still greater scale was re- 



Constantinople. 



203 



peated at the close of the Crimean War. As 
neither the Crimea nor Roumelia are naturally un- 
healthy countries, the main cause of it must be 
found in the traditionally bad sanitary arrange- 
ments of the Russian camps. 

There is something peculiarly sad and cruel in 
the fate of a brave soldier who survives the perils 
of many a bloody field only to fall a victim to an 
insidious disease a few months later. This was the 
fate of only too many of the Russians. A terrible 
gloom spread over the army, and was reflected at 
once throughout Russia. The pitiable condition of 
these gallant men, waiting helplessly on diplomacy 
in front of Constantinople, watching the enemy's 
fortifications grow under their very eyes, and falling 
sick daily by thousands, called forth the bitterest 
feelings throughout Russia. Without due reflec- 
tion, people at home visited their discontent upon 
the Grand Duke Nicholas, as has been already nar- 
rated. Ostensibly on account of his health (which 
in reality was not good, for he was suffering from a 
return of a complaint of the liver, which had trou- 
bled him more or less throughout the whole cam- 
paign), and at his own request, the Grand Duke 
was relieved from command on the 24th of April, 
the anniversary of the declaration of war, being pro- 
moted to the rank of field marshal on the same day. 
He returned to Russia, the object of such unpopu- 



204 



Army Life in Russia. 



larity that it was difficult to secure him the respect 
due to his position, much less to his great and emi- 
nent services. He was succeeded in the command 
of the army by General Todleben, but no active 
operations were afterward resumed, for the treaty 
of Berlin was signed a few weeks later. The troops 
began gradually returning to Russia in the follow- 
ing month of August. 



CHAPTER IX. 



ST. PETERSBURG. 

THERE is but little in the general appearance of 
St. Petersburg which is distinctively Russian, the 
only great city of the pure Russian type being Mos- 
cow. In St. Petersburg there is here and there a 
gilded dome, or one covered with stars on a blue 
field, but the city is essentially of the cosmopolitan 
modern type, resembling Berlin more than any other, 
but not differing greatly from the more recent addi- 
tions to Paris and Vienna. The streets are broad and 
straight, usually paved with stone, and the buildings 
are long rows of stuccoed structures of a barrack-like 
character, singularly devoid of architectural variety. 

The whole appearance of the place is essentially 
military and bureaucratic, and a large proportion of 
the people one meets on the street are in uniform. 
Those who wear spurs and trail a sword clanking at 
their heels are officers of the army, and those who 
wear a black uniform with white buttons and orna- 
ments are civil servants ; the total number of these 
two classes in the whole city amounts lo a good 

many thousands. The policemen are old soldiers, 

205 



206 



Army Life in Russia. 



and wear a uniform closely resembling that of the 
army, and they also carry a sword. No small part 
of their time is taken up in keeping a lookout for 
officers, every one of whom, whether on foot, on 
horseback, or in a carriage, they are required to face 
and salute.* When a junior officer meets a general, 
he not only salutes him, but stands fast on the curb, 
facing the general and holding his hand at his cap, 
until he has passed. When a member of the im- 
perial family, no matter how young, passes in his 
carriage, eveiy officer, of the highest as well as the 
lowest grade, stops and faces him in the same way 
during his salute. 

This great number of uniforms gives an air of 
brightness to the otherwise gloomy streets, over- 
shadowed by the never-varying dull gray sky ; and 
an additional element of life is given by the equip- 
ages, which are of an entirely unique character. The 
picture of the fashionable carriage of the West, with 
dignified Jeames seated high on the box, immovable, 
with his whip on his thigh, and a reduced edition 
of himself on a lower plane to his left in the form 
of Thomas, sitting equally immovable, with arms 

* This has been changed by a recent order, dated March 20, 1880, 
of General Melikoff , Chief of the Supreme Executive Council, which 
limits the salutes to the Emperor and members of the imperial 
family, in order that the police may give their whole attention to the 
maintenance of public order. 



St. Petersburg. 



20/ 



folded, and before them a pair of clipped and banged 
three-quarter-breds, their eyes covered with blinders 
and their heads checked very high, throwing their 
feet well in the air but not advancing above six 
miles an hour — all this is as familiar in Vienna and 
Paris as in London and New York, but it is never 
seen in St. Petersburg except in the case of some 
young guardsman, who considers it a swell thing to 
have one of his turn-outs aV Anglaise. The fashion- 
able carriage of St. Petersburg is totally unlike this ; 
it is a caleche, or victoria, built very heavy, and is 
drawn by two coal-black Orloff trotters, with curved 
necks, long manes, tails reaching nearly to the 
ground, and shaggy fetlocks ; the collar and traces 
are strong, but there is no blinder, check-rein, saddle, 
or breeching, and the bridle is composed of such 
small pieces of leather that it is hardly visible ; the 
reins are of blue cloth, and there is one for each side 
of the bit, making four for a pair of horses ; there 
is no footman on the box, and the driver, who seems 
to be chosen for his large girth, is dressed in the 
costume which is worn by every coachman, whether 
driving a prince's carriage or a little droschke at ten 
cents an hour. It consists simply of a low-crowned 
stiff hat, and a long blue tunic, crossed over his 
breast and reaching quite to his feet. But what 
principally distinguishes the Russian equipage is its 
animation ; they drive at ten miles an hour through 



208 



Army Life in Russia. 



the most crowded streets, yelling at people to get 
out of the way ; the horses' eyes and nostrils are 
full of fire, and the coachman, whose short little 
whip hangs by a string from his wrist and is rarely 
used or seen, is no less animated, as he stretches 
both hands forward, watching his animals most in- 
tently, and looking as if he were driving in a race. 
They are the best drivers as a class that I have ever 
seen. 

When the Russians drive more than two horses 
they hitch them up abreast instead of in pairs, and 
their favorite team is the troika, or three horses 
abreast, the middle one trotting and the outsiders 
galloping. The excitement of rapid driving in this 
style is very enjoyable, and one of the principal 
amusements of winter is to get a sleigh and troika 
and go out to some of the concert halls in the sub- 
urbs to hear the gipsies sing and watch them dance. 
Another swell equipage for a young bachelor is a 
handsomely-mounted X\tt\<z droschke, with two horses, 
— one jet-black, trotting in shafts, with head erect, 
and the other a light gray, galloping by the side, with 
his head kept out and down by a side line. The 
effect is very pretty, though the constrained position 
of the free horse uses him up after a couple of years 
at the most. 

The furious gait at which they drive, and the 
rough stone pavements, tell very severely on their 



St. Petersburg. 



209 



horses, and no one who pretends to keep a hand- 
some turnout ever drives the same horses on suc- 
cessive days. 

The streets are much less crowded than in other 
great cities. Peter laid out his town on both sides 
of the Neva, and he also applied the principles he 
had^ seen in Holland, by building radial and con- 
centric canals through the main part of the city. 
These canals are faced with fine granite walls 
throughout their length, and in summer they afford 
the means of transporting heavy merchandise with- 
out recourse to wagons. No heavy hauling is per- 
mitted on any of the main streets in the fashionable 
quarter, except in certain hours. 

In summer, all the "world" leaves town, not 
from any necessity, for it is never hot, but because 
it is the fashion. They go to their estates in the 
interior, or to the German and French watering 
places. Those who are obliged to remain amuse 
themselves in the evening by driving to Yelagin 
Island, or, as it is commonly called, " the Point." 
The various channels of the delta of the Neva 
form about a dozen islands of various sizes on the 
north of the main Neva, and four of these, of which 
Yelagin is one, lying next to each other, constitute 
a great park of over fifteen hundred acres. There 
are here and there some private country-seats in it, 
and a few public gardens with out-door theaters, 



210 Army Life in Russia. 

but fully half is covered with forest-trees, from 
which the underbush has been cut away and re- 
placed by lawns, and through which are numerous 
well-built roads. 

In midsummer the sun does not set until about I 
ten o'clock, and the twilight lasts for a full hour 
later; these four or five hours after dinner are oc- 
cupied by everybody in a drive to " the Point," or a 
visit to one of the gardens. The sun shines more or 
less in summer, though rarely on two days in suc- 
cession ; the air is pleasant, barring a little damp- 
ness which renders a light overcoat necessary at 
sunset, and this great park, though but little culti- 
vated by art, is a very agreeable place for recrea- 
tion. 

In winter the whole scene changes. Snow begins 
falling in October, and by the 1st of November the 
sleighing is firmly established ; the Neva and all the 
canals are tightly frozen, the sun is not seen for 
weeks at a time, and the snow falls in fine flakes 
during a greater or less portion of nearly every day ; 
it seldom comes in storms with high wind, but 
seems to be sifting down with occasional intermis- 
sions nearly all the time. The cold compels every 
one in the streets to wear such a mass of cloaks and 
wraps that it makes little difference whether it is 
snowing or not. 

About four inches of snow is allowed to remain 



II 



St. Petersburg. 211 

on the streets for sleighing, and the rest is hauled 
away. There are no thaws, and but very few ex- 
tremes of cold ; the average temperature is about 
ten degrees above zero, Fahrenheit, all the time. 

The " world" has now returned, the streets are full 
of handsome sleighs, the celebrated jewelry shops 
are lighted to their brighest, the operas and theaters 
are all in operation. People of the upper class get 
up in a twilight at ten in the morning, have a cup 
of coffee in their own apartments, and are occupied 
with their private affairs until noon, when they 
breakfast at home or in the cafes. After breakfast 
they attend to their public business, or go out to do 
shopping for a couple of hours. Returning home 
between two and three, it is already dark, and can- 
dles are lighted. Then begins the round of after- 
noon visits, which continues till dinner, which is 
usually at six. After dinner they go to the opera 
or theater, and when that is over, at eleven, they go 
to a ball or a heavy supper, which ends the day at 
about two in the morning. 

Every one, except a few very rich princes, who 
have their own great palaces, lives in a " flat ; " not 
such miniature affairs as we are familiar with in 
New York, but a series of fifteen to twenty large, 
well-proportioned apartments, with broad halls. In 
order to provide such a suite of apartments on one 
floor, the houses are built from two hundred to two 



212 



Army Life in Ritssia. 



hundred and fifty feet long, and looking along the 
street, instead of seeing a door to every three win- 
dows, you see only one to over twenty windows ; 
in a word, a man's house is separated from that of 
his neighbor by horizontal rather than vertical walls. 

The outside walls are very thick and heavily 
stuccoed with plaster ; the windows are invariably 
double, and the space between them is packed at 
the bottom with sand to exclude the draught, and a 
little salt to absorb the moisture which would con- 
geal on the glass. One pane of the eight in each 
window is set on hinges, and is occasionally opened 
to admit fresh air. It is a common mistake to sup- 
pose that the houses are kept very hot ; this is not 
so ; the air is sometimes a little stale, but it is main- 
tained throughout the large halls, as well as the 
rooms, at a remarkably uniform temperature of 
about yo° Fahrenheit. This is accomplished by 
means of an enormous brick stove in the corner of 
each room, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, 
and covered over in handsome apartments by 
porcelain tiles ; this is filled with wood every morn- 
ing, and, after the fire is well lighted, the dampers 
are tightly closed, and the wood smolders for 
twenty-four hours. The outside of the stove is 
never hot enough to burn the hand, but its radiat- 
ing surface is so large that the room is kept at a 
very agreeable temperature. In addition to the 



St. Petersburg. 213 

stove, people who can afford it have an open fire 
in every room, for purposes of ventilation and 
adornment only. 

The street entrance is provided with three sets of 
doors, which are evidently necessary in order to 
maintain a temperature of yo° inside against one of 
zero or below outside ; in the hall are always one or 
two porters ready to take the wraps, which are re- 
moved immediately on entering. A huge mass of 
furs hobbles through the doors on great goloshes, 
and, a moment later, leaves the hands of the porter 
a graceful young lady of slender figure, a dapper 
young officer in tight-fitting uniform, or possibly a 
plethoric old general; wrapped- up in their furs, 
they are all equally shapeless and undistinguishable, 
and it is often an amusing exercise of curiosity to 
watch the disrobing, and see what form of human 
insect will emerge from the chrysalis. 

The building of St. Petersburg was the most 
despotic act ever committed in this most autocratic 
of modern countries. Had not Peter been the 
strongest man of his cotemporaries, his people 
would have clapped him in the mad-house when he 
ordered them to build a city out in a morass, where 
even to-day no great structure can be erected with- 
out disturbing the foundations of its neighbors. 
The Isaac Cathedral rests on a forest of piles, and 
still the unequal settlement defaces the walls so con- 



214 



Army Life in Russia. 



stantly that there has never been a year when work- 
men were not busy repairing them. It is a Russian 
proverb that in St. Petersburg " hearts are always 
dry and the streets are always wet." St. Peters- 
burg is so little a natural site for a great city that 
to-day, when it is a hundred and seventy years old, 
it is approached from any direction only by riding 
over a hundred miles of well-nigh uninhabited 
country. From the edge of the city you emerge at 
once into endless, uncultivated plains, across which 
you would travel for days in a carriage before 
reaching any thickly settled region. But for an 
imperial command, no city would ever have arisen 
on the site of the present capital of Russia. 

We often read of certain events in history " which 
changed the whole course of empire ;" as a rule, the 
expression is exaggerated, for the events were 
usually only the more salient features of a long 
chain of development depending on the action of 
many minds. But the building of St. Petersburg is 
an exception ; it was the isolated act of one man's 
mind, and it has determined the nature of the 
whole course of modern Russian development, 
which would have been totally different had he de- 
cided differently. 

It is well known that when Peter came back from 
his travels in Western Europe, he was strongly im- 
pressed with the commercial greatness of England 



St. Petersburg. 215 



and Holland, and decided that the first step neces 
sary to rouse Russia from her lethargy, and bring 
her into the family of civilized nations, was to pro- 
vide an outlet to the sea, by which not only could 
she begin to build up a foreign commerce, but learn 
the ways of the rest of the world. 

He had two courses open to him— to pitch his new 
capital near the Baltic or on the Black Sea. In favor 
of the former, he saw that he already possessed 
land on the arms of the Baltic, from which he could 
reach the ocean without hinderance from any one 
nation, though his route would be closed half the 
year by ice ; it was also the shortest route to Eng- 
land and Holland. In favor of the latter, he had a 
mild climate, better harbors, and a highway open 
all the year ; but he possessed only a small and in- 
secure footing on the Black Sea, and the route from 
it to the ocean led through straits, both shores of 
which were in possession of a foreign power — Tur- 
key — then one of the most powerful states in Eu- 
rope. It was absolutely impossible for him to hope 
to conquer possession of the straits during his own 
short life-time. He therefore chose the northern 
route, and was forced to build his city in the most 
thoroughly uninviting and unpromising spot that 
ever a city was founded upon. In order to give it 
life, he removed his court and his seat of govern- 
ment to it. Though it has prospered and grown, 



2l6 



Army Life in Russia. 



probaory to the full measure of his anticipations, 
yet it is doubtful if it could survive even now were 
the seat of government removed from it. 

All this is utterly opposed to the laws of natural 
selection, which have ruled in the establishment 
and growth of cities as in other matters. The mod- 
ern characteristics of Russians have been the result 
of this mere act of one man, undertaken, not in ac- 
cordance with the spirit of his time, but directly in 
the face of it. The mind is absolutely lost in trying 
to contemplate what would have been the result 
had he pitched his capital on the Black Sea. The 
effect of a warm climate and an easy existence 
would probably have so modified the Russian char- 
acter as to make it incapable of the great sacrifices 
which it has from time to time shown since Peter's 
day ; the Eastern question would have been forced 
to a settlement one way or the other three genera- 
tions ago ; we might have seen the dreams of Cathe- 
rine realized long before the day of the Panslavists 
by an amalgamation of the Slav and Greek races of 
Turkey with those of Russia, and the founding of a 
Christian empire with its seat on the Bosphorus ; or 
we might have seen the northern Slavs degenerate 
like those of the south, and the whole fall a prey to 
the Turks on the south and the Germans on the 
north. There is nothing on which to form any sure 
estimate of what would have happened ; we can 



St. Petersburg. 



217 



only affirm that the national character would have 
been entirely different, and the course of Russian 
history would have been totally changed. It seems 
hard to realize that one man actually had it in his 
power to, and did, cast a die on which such far- 
reaching consequences depended. 

I have already said that the military aspect pre- 
dominates on the streets, and I might add that it per- 
meates the whole life of the ruling classes. The career 
of every young man in the great families is begun in 
the Guards ; he remains in the army, or subsequently 
passes into the diplomatic or civil branches of the 
government service, according to his taste and abil- 
ity ; it is incumbent on him to serve the govern- 
ment in some capacity, and he always begins by the 
military service. The subsequent changes some- 
times appear to a foreigner as very amusing; the 
present Minister of Finance, for example, began life 
as a cornet of cavalry, was afterward in a diplo- 
matic post, then passed into the navy where he at- 
tained the grade of admiral, was then a civil gov- 
ernor of a province, which he left to become Comp- 
troller of the Empire, and is now Minister of 
Finance. He is still young, being but little over 
fifty, and people say of him laughingly, that it only 
remains for him to be bishop or metropolitan in 
the church in order to make his career complete. 

Similarly, the Minister of Public Works is an ad- 
10 



218 



Army Life in Russia. 



miral in the navy, and the late Minister of the In- 
terior was a general of cavalry. The number of am- 
bassadors who have been generals is well known, 
and more than half of the civil governors of 
provinces are chosen from the army. While there 
is now less of this interchanging between different 
branches of the service than there was in the last 
reign and the one before it, yet it is still true, as it 
has always been, that the army is the pathway to 
any career in the government service. 

This being so, the whole tenor of official life is 
essentially military, and the Emperor, as the actual 
head of the army, devotes no small portion of his 
time to his duties as commander-in-chief ; this sets 
the tone of the court, of society, and of the governing 
classes, and it would hardly be saying too much to 
affirm that the country is governed for the benefit 
of the army, rather than the army being maintained 
for the benefit of the country. 

Along-side of the summer garden, two squares 
from the winter palace, and separated from the 
Neva only by the houses along the quay, is a va- 
cant space, over twenty acres in extent, known as 
the Champ de Mars, and used exclusively as a 
parade ground. About forty thousand men can 
be assembled in it, and here the great reviews are 
held in the spring and autumn, and on the occasion 
of royal visits. 



St. Petersburg. 



219 



During the winter, the extreme cold makes out- 
door reviews impossible, and the Emperor therefore 
holds a weekly inspection of one regiment at a time 
in the great riding school, a structure covering in 
itself over three acres of ground, and well heated by 
the usual immense brick stoves. This inspection, 
or rasvod, is held every Sunday after church, be- 
tween twelve and one o'clock, and forms one of the 
principal events of the week. It is attended by 
the Emperor, all his brothers and sons, in their va- 
rious capacities as commanding officers of different 
grades, by all the generals of the guard, and by the 
military attaches of the several embassies and lega- 
tions. Every one is in full uniform, the men are 
dressed in their best, their arms are bright, the 
horses' shoes even are polished like mirrors ; it is 
altogether a pretty sight. The Emperor, Minister 
of War, aid-de-camp on duty, and the foreign offi- 
cers are mounted ; all the others are on foot. 

There are stationed constantly in permanent 
barracks in St. Petersburg eight infantry regiments 
of the guard, the two regiments of mounted body- 
guard, two regiments of Cossacks, the Emperor's 
escort, and several batteries of artillery. In the 
neighboring villages along the Gulf of Finland are 
stationed eight more regiments of cavalry, as many 
batteries, and four regiments of the line. Altogether 
there are in and near the city about fifty thousand 



220 



Army Life in Russia. 



troops at all times. Each regiment takes its turn 
at one of these Sunday morning inspections. They 
are reviewed, inspected, and marched past by the 
Emperor; the cavalry regiments, and particularly the 
Cossacks, give specimens of their dexterity in riding, 
jumping, handling the saber and pistol, and then 
the Emperor walks or rides through the ranks chat- 
ting familiarly with the men. 

In addition to these Sunday morning inspections, 
each regiment is reviewed at the riding school on 
the occasion of its annual fete day ; one of these 
fetes occurs every week, on an average, throughout 
the winter. 

Of a similar nature are the honors paid to the 
distinguished dead of the army. When a celebrated 
general dies, the Emperor attends his funeral ser- 
vice; on the anniversary of the death, forty days, 
half-a-year, or, possibly, even a year afterward, the 
Emperor, Minister of War, chief of staff, and dis- 
tinguished generals, all attend a mass in the chapel 
of the palace, for the repose of his soul. The 
same thing occurs on the anniversary of the late 
Emperor's birthday, of the death of the present 
Emperor's eldest son, and on other anniversaries of 
a similar character. Again, on St. Alexander's day, 
the Emperor, important personages, and the diplo- 
matic corps, attend a long service at the church of 
St. Alexander Nevsky ; on St. Isaac's day, a similar 



St. Petersburg. 



221 



service at the Isaac Cathedral, and so on. These 
forms of religious ceremonial, which have a strong 
military flavor and are attended in full uniform 
with military exactness, form part of the daily life. 
They consume an amount of time which to us is 
almost incredible ; the best part of the day, from I 
to 3 P.M., is given up to one or another of them on 
about four days of every week. The same habits 
permeate all classes ; a man is repairing your house, 
making you a suit of clothes, or doing some other 
tradesman's or mechanic's work for you ; it is 
promised on a certain day, and you are disap- 
pointed at its not being done in time ; he has a 
ready answer for you, which, in his mind, is a per- 
fect excuse — yesterday, or the day before, was a 
praznik, or holiday, perhaps the saint's day whose 
name he bears, and he could not work ! One often 
wonders how any business is ever transacted with 
the delays due to these prazniks and ceremonies, 
but it is the custom of the country, and people gov- 
ern themselves accordingly. Things seem to go on, 
after all, about as smoothly as in America, where 
"time is money," — an expression, by the way, 
which always affords great amusement to Russians. 

These ceremonies naturally culminate in celebrat- 
ing the great events of life ; viz., birth, marriage, 
and death. In December, 1878, I assisted at the 
christening of His Imperial Highness, the Grand 



222 



Army Life in Russia. 



Duke Mikhail Alexandrovitch, youngest son of the 
heir to the throne. He was born during the night pre- 
ceding a grand review, and at the review the next day 
a battery was halted in marching past, and informed 
by the Emperor that it had a new chief in the per- 
son of this Grand Duke, an announcement which 
was received with loud cheering. The little fellow 
was honorary colonel of a regiment of infantry, of 
another of cavalry, and of a battery of artillery, be- 
fore he was a dozen hours old. Two weeks later he 
was christened in the chapel of the Winter Palace. 
A large crowd gathered in the street to see him go 
past on his way from his father's to his grandfather's 
palace. He rode in the arms of his godmother, in 
a gilded coach, drawn by six white horses, with pos- 
tilions; behind him was a similar coach containing 
the Grand Chamberlain and his godfather. In front 
and behind the coaches rode a platoon of Cossacks. 
At the palace, besides the Emperor and other mem- 
bers of the imperial family, there were the diplo- 
matic corps, " the chamberlains and ministers, the 
first and second charges of the court," various other 
personages, and finally, " all those having the right 
to appear at court." The detailed programme of 
the form of proceedings, issued by the grand master 
of ceremonies, covered five columns of the official 
newspaper. Every one was in full dress — the men in 
military or civil uniform, and the ladies in the Rus- 



St. Petersburg. 223 

sian court dress. This costume is very peculiar and 
striking in effect; the front of the dress is of cloth 
of gold, the back and train of red or blue velvet, 
and on the head is worn a sort of diadem (kokoshnik) 
of the same color as the dress, and studded, with 
precious stones. 

In the chapel the male members of the imperial 
family stood next the chancel-rail on one side, and 
the female members on the other. Next to them 
came the members of the diplomatic corps and 
their wives, then the gentlemen of the body-guard 
and the principal dignitaries of the crown, and be- 
hind them, extending out into the adjoining grand 
hall, were the other persons present — about a thou- 
sand in all. The child was brought in on a handsome 
embroidered pillow, borne by Princess Kourakin, his 
godmother. On either side of her walked the god- 
fathers, Prince Suwarof and Count Kotzebue. The 
service was chanted in the usual form, but by the 
almost unrivaled voices of the Emperor's choir; 
then the child was christened by immersion by the 
priest ; he howled and struggled with fine spirit, and 
was then taken out, wrapped up in some rich cloths 
and handed to the Emperor, who walked three times 
round the altar with the child in his arms. The 
exact significance of this I did not learn, but it was 
a pretty family scene to see the little fellow still 
shouting and kicking, every one present laughing at 



224 



Army Life in Russia. 



it, and the Emperor smiling benignantly, after the 
manner of grandfathers on such occasions. 

After this, the little Grand Duke was handed to 
his nurse, the various members of the imperial family 
kissed each other in congratulation, and then passed 
out, terminating the ceremony. 

The anniversaries of great battles are celebrated 
by the troops attending divine service in the morn- 
ing, and having a dinner and an extra allowance of 
grog in the afternoon. On the occasion of the first 
anniversary of the fall of Plevna, the Grand Duke 
Nicholas gave a dinner at his palace near the bridge 
named after his father. The Emperor and all the 
members of the imperial family then in town were 
present, as well as about two hundred officers who 
had been present at Plevna. This palace is remark- 
able for the beautiful broad marble stairway which 
rises in a straight line from the entrance to the 
third story, but there is nothing unusual in the 
large dining-room, nor in the table service. The 
dinner was a purely Russian one, made to suit the 
Russian palate, and certainly unacceptable to any 
other. As an instance of Russian taste, I give the 
menu. First came the zakuska, or appetizers, at a 
side table : caviare, a dozen varieties of native and 
foreign whiskies, brandies and cordials, including 
one bottle marked " American Cocktails ; " as many 
varieties of cheese, of little fishes like sardines, of 



St. Petersburg. 



225 



pate de foie gras, etc. After we were seated at 
table, the first dish was a soup of cabbage with a 
peculiar white sauce of sour cream which was 
mixed in it according to each person's taste. With 
this was served Chateau Yquem. Next came a filet 
of beef with mushrooms, served with red wine. 
After the filet came the fiih, which was a work of 
art ; it was a gigantic sturgeon, weighing over 
ninety pounds, and about five feet in length ; this 
had been cut into small pieces and then carefully 
put together again, so that the lines of division 
were only visible when you came to help yourself ; 
it was gayly decorated with flags, etc., and was 
brought in on a silver platter borne by six men. 
The sturgeon was followed by the piece de resistance 
of the dinner, which was a sucking pig, stuffed with 
the kahsha or buckwheat gruel, to which I have fre- 
quently referred as the staple article of food of the 
peasants. With this was served your choice of 
champagne, or the Russian sour beer called kvass. 
Next came a Roman punch, and after this there was 
game, some ducks and grouse with cucumber salad, 
served with the red wine of the Crimea ; then some 
sort of pudding, sweetmeats, coffee, and cigarettes. 

The health of the Emperor was drunk, as usual, on 
the simple announcement, " Za zdarova Gosurdara 
Imperatora, hourrah ! " (To the health of our lord 

the Emperor, hurrah ! ) the hurrah being taken up 
10* 



226 



Army Life in Russia. 



vociferously and long continued by all present, and 
every one standing. The health of the Cesarevitch 
and of the Grand Duke Nicholas were also drunk, 
but of no one else ; and there was no speech-mak- 
ing, except by the Emperor, who said a few words 
as he proposed each of the latter toasts. At a pre- 
vious dinner of the same kind, at which the Em- 
peror was not present (being in the Crimea), there 
was a good deal of speech-making accompanying 
the toasts. 

The dinner, which began at six, was over at eight 
o'clock, and nearly every one present then went to 
the opera or to the circus ; the latter is admirably 
conducted in a large iron tent, and is very popular 
with the younger cavalry officers. After the circus I 
accepted an invitation to one of the regimental 
clubs. 

The two regiments of the Emperor's body-guard, 
one of which is called the Chevalier Garde and the 
other the Garde a cheval, are the most aristocratic 
organizations of any kind in Russia. Appointments 
of comets in them are made only with the consent 
of the regiment and with the personal knowledge 
and approval of the Emperor in each case. The 
officers are all " gentlemen of the guard," and are 
present at all court ceremonies. Each of these 
regiments is quartered in a very desirable part of the 
town, their barracks, stables, riding hall, etc., oc- 



St. Petersburg. 



227 



cupying an entire square about one thousand feet 
long and four hundred feet wide. Each num- 
bers about forty officers and six hundred men, 
the men being all selected, and over six feet in 
height. They are cuirassier regiments, and their 
horses are chosen, with no little difficulty, to com- 
bine grace with the strength necessary to carry 
about three hundred pounds. One regiment has all 
black, the other all bay horses. Every officer has 
from three to six private saddle-horses — English tho- 
roughbreds, Russian Arabs, Cossack cross-breds, 
and other varieties of blooded animals, ranging in 
value from one to three thousand dollars apiece. 
The cost to the crown of one of these regiments is 
enormous — about equal to that of a division of ten 
thousand men of the infantry of the line — yet they 
have been called into active service only twice in 
this century ; viz., in the wars against Napoleon and 
in the Polish Insurrection of 1863. Every one of 
the officers, however, who could obtain leave saw 
service in the last war as an aid-de-camp, or a vol- 
unteer in some other regiment. 

Their barracks contain handsome suites of apart- 
ments for about half the officers, that number be- 
ing supposed to be married ; the junior unmarried 
officers have also two or three rooms apiece, 
though not so large or handsome as the others. 
Each regiment has also a large and well-appointed 



228 



Army Life in Russia. 



club-house, adjoining the barracks, maintained by 
the officers. This contains the usual reading-rooms, 
a good library, billiard-rooms, card-rooms, and res- 
taurant. A supper is spread each night at mid- 
night, in readiness for the officers as they come 
home from the theater. 

The regimental clubs are so numerous and well 
appointed that there are but two other clubs in 
town, the club of the nobility and the yacht club, 
neither of which is equal to the clubs of the crack 
regiments. 

The nobility of Russia is hospitable and open- 
handed to the last degree, but it is equally extrava- 
gant. A young man, as they say themselves, is 
considered enormously rich if he merely lives within 
his income, and keeps out of debt. While there is 
no more card-playing at the clubs than is common 
in other capitals, yet the play is for enormous 
stakes, frequently out of all comparison to the re- 
sources of the players. They are usually in the 
habit of leaving the entire management of their 
estates to their intendants, or stewards, and visit- 
ing them only for short periods once a year. The 
stewards are none too honest, as their masters well 
know, but the latter are averse to bothering them- 
selves with the details of management, and let the 
steward steal a fair percentage so long as he re- 
mits regular installments of the income. This care- 



St. Petersburg. 



229 



lessness, combined with extravagant living, has its 
natural result in the financial crash of several fam- 
ilies every year. The young men then sell out 
their household valuables and go off to the Cau- 
casus and Central Asia, to win distinction in active 
service, and promotion to a grade whose pay is 
enough for their support. There is in a certain 
portion of St. Petersburg an immense bazar of the 
pure oriental type, known as the Shtukin Dvor> 
where, as in the other bazars, you can buy every- 
thing that is sold in commerce, but where also there 
are over a dozen large and well-known shops de- 
voted exclusively to the purchase and sale of the 
debris of the establishments of the bankrupt nobil- 
ity. Here you will find the rarest and most valu- 
able pieces of furniture, of china, of jewelry, and of 
laces. It is as interesting to go through one of 
these shops as to spend an afternoon in a well 
stocked museum of art — which, in fact, they are 
Those Russians whose crash has not yet come, or 
whose fortune is so large as to preclude the possi- 
bility of it, are very fond of good bric-a-brac, and 
have excellent taste in it. They periodically visit 
these shops to pick up some rare objet de luxe ou de 
vertu ; they ask the shopkeeper if he has anything 
new, and he answers that he has just received the 
remains of the entire establishment of Count this or 
Prince that. " Ah ! yes, poor Count so-and-so, le 



230 Army Life in Russia. 

bon garcon ! Let me see his things." And then 
they proceed to search for some bronze or vase 
which they have long admired, and which they are 
so glad to secure for their own possession. 

Whenever a number of Russian officers are seen 
in full dress, one is dazzled by the number of stars, 
decorations, and medals which cover their breasts. 
Some of these are of no value whatever, and others 
are records of the most signal feats in arms or state 
service, and confer great privileges. There are in 
Russia seven orders of knighthood for men and one 
for women. Three of these have but one class or de- 
gree, and are given only to persons of a certain grade 
in the " Tchin " or hierarchy, and the other four have 
various classes for various grades. The order of St. 
Andrew, founded by Peter the Great at the close of 
the seventeenth century, is conferred upon all 
princes of the imperial family at their birth, but is 
otherwise bestowed on only the highest dignitaries, 
such as chancellors, ambassadors, and full generals. 
Its insignia consist of a long collar of Russian 
double-headed eagles stamped in gold, which is 
worn around the shoulders. Next to this comes 
the order of St. Alexander Nevsky, also founded by 
Peter, whose insignia are a broad blue cordon, worn 
over the shoulder, and a star on the breast. Its be- 
stowal is confined to the first three grades in the 
Tchin. The remaining order of this kind is the 



St. Petersburg. 



231 



White Eagle, which was founded by a Polish king 
in the fourteenth century. It is not much esteem- 
ed, and is usually conferred on some general who 
has done his duty in a battle but has not achieved 
success. Its insignia consist of a decoration worn 
at the neck. 

The four remaining orders are the St. George and 
St. Vladimir, founded by Catherine, and both high- 
ly esteemed ; the St. Anne, founded by Charles Fred- 
erick of Schleswig-Holstein, and the St. Stanislaus, 
founded by King Stanislaus of Poland. 

The St. George is a purely military order, and is 
the most highly prized of all the Russian decora- 
tions. Any Russian will risk his life to obtain its 
little cross of white enamel and the ribbon of black 
and yellow, and no one ever does get it without his 
life having been in the greatest danger. It has four 
classes, each of which is bestowed only for certain 
services specified in the statute with great minute- 
ness. The name of every knight of the order and 
the date of his knighthood are inscribed in gold on 
white marble columns in the hall of St. George at 
the Kremlin palace in Moscow. The first class is be- 
stowed only upon commanding generals who, while 
in command of an army, have achieved some great 
feat, such as the capture or signal defeat of a hostile 
army. There have been but twenty-two knights 
of the first class since the order was founded, 



232 



Army Life 171 Russia. 



and their names all occupy a prominent place 
on the page of history. Among them are Potem- 
kin, Suwarof, Kutusoff, Barclay de Tolly, Berna- 
dotte, Blucher, Wellington, Paskevitch, Diebitch, 
and the Emperor William of Germany. It was con- 
ferred during the last war only on the two com- 
manders-in-chief in Europe and Asia respectively — 
one on the fall of Plevna and the other on the fall 
of Kars. 

The second class is conferred on chiefs of staff or 
commanders of large fractions of an army which 
gain an important battle. Von Moltke, the Crown 
Prince of Germany, and Prince Frederick Charles 
are knights of this class ; and in the last war but 
eight were created, among them, Loris-Melikoff, 
Todleben, and Radetsky. 

The third class is conferred upon generals having 
command of a corps or an independent detachment, 
who either capture a fortress, a considerable detach- 
ment of the enemy, or contribute in a vital degree 
to a victory. Thirty-seven of these were conferred 
in the last war; Gourko, for instance, receiving it 
for the first passage of the Balkans, Krudener for 
the capture of Nikopolis, etc. 

The fourth class is conferred upon a commanding 
officer or chief of staff for valuable service in battle, 
or upon an officer of any grade for extraordinary 
heroism ; thus it was bestowed on the two lieuten- 



St. Petersburg. 



233 



ants who blew up the Turkish monitor Se-ife on the 
Danube by means of torpedoes from an open boat. 
Two hundred and eighty-eight in all of this class 
were conferred in the last war. 

Every cross of this order is received, therefore, 
only as a reward for some act of conspicuous gal- 
lantry or distinguished service in battle. It is not 
bestowed by the Emperor directly, but only in ac- 
cordance with the unanimous recommendation of a 
chapter of the order, stating the service in detail 
and the clause in the statute which authorizes it. 
It confers all the rights of hereditary nobility upon 
every knight, in addition to a specific pension and 
certain other privileges, such as that of having his 
children educated at the expense of the state in 
any of the military schools. 

The order of St. Vladimir, which ranks next to 
that of St. George, is conferred for both civil and 
military services. Its cross is of brown enamel, 
and has crossed sabers on it when given for service 
in battle ; the ribbon is black and red. It has four 
classes, the insignia of the first being the cordon and 
star; of the second and third, crosses of different size 
worn at the neck; and of the fourth, a smaller cross 
worn on the breast. The classes, however, are dis- 
tinguished, not by the nature of the service, but by 
the grade of the person on whom conferred ; the first 
and second for generals, the third for field officers, 



234 



Army Life in Russia. 



and the fourth for company officers. The order is 
conferred directly by the Emperor on the recom- 
mendation or " presentation " of the recipient's ser- 
vices by his commanding officers. 

The orders of St. Anne and St. Stanislaus are the 
lowest of all. They are of three classes, according 
to the rank of the recipient when received, and are 
conferred for gallantry, but also as favors at autumn 
manceuvers, for several years' good service, etc. Not 
much consideration is attached to them. 

In addition to these orders and their classes, 
every campaign against the enemy, whether a great 
war like that in Turkey, or a small expedition in 
Central Asia, has its own medal, which is worn alike 
by every officer and soldier who took honorable 
part in it. In full dress an officer wears all his 
decorations, in undress only the one which is high- 
est ; but the possessor of the St. George wears it on 
his coat and the ribbon on his overcoat on every 
and all occasions. 

As an officer of fifteen or twenty years' experience 
is sure to have received a few of the minor crosses 
for faithful service, as he invariably receives one or 
two foreign decorations when sent abroad on a mil- 
itary mission, and as he has a medal for every cam- 
paign, and probably one or two decorations received 
during it in addition, it is evident that when he has 
seen active and varied service, and attained the 



St. Petersburg. 



235 



grade of colonel or general, he has a good many 
decorations ; and if in addition he has specially dis- 
tinguished himself by gallantry, he has hardly room 
on his coat for all of them. Some officers of dis- 
tinction who have passed through four or five cam- 
paigns, and have served forty years or more, have 
as many as twenty or thirty various crosses and 
medals. 

The higher classes of the order of St. George cor- 
respond to the thanks of Congress or the presenta- 
tion of a sword by that body ; the other orders cor- 
respond to brevets. They have precisely the same 
value as brevets, some of them being the records of 
great deeds, and others the record of nothing but 
favor and influence, like so many of the two thou- 
sand or more brevets dating from the bloody 13th of 
March, 1865. With us the reward is a title higher 
than that of the actual rank ; with the Russians it is 
a bit of ribbon and jewelry on the breast. 

The " Tchin " or hierarchy, to which I have just 
referred, is one of the most peculiar institutions of 
Russia. All the servants of the government, includ- 
ing those of the church, have a relative rank by 
which their social, and, in a certain sense also, their 
political status, is absolutely fixed. There are four- 
teen grades in this " Tchin." The first or most ex- 
alted grade comprises only the Chancellor of the 
Empire, a field-marshal in the army, the Lord 



236 



Army Life in Russia. 



High Admiral of the navy, and a metropolitan in 
the church. The second grade comprises an ac- 
tual privy councillor in the civil service, a full 
general in the army, a full admiral in the navy, a 
grand chamberlain at the court, and an arch- 
bishop in the church. The next grade comprises 
a privy councillor, a lieutenant-general, a vice-ad- 
miral, a chamberlain, a bishop. Next come actual 
state councillors, major-generals, rear admirals, 
and archimandrites, and so on through the various 
classes. The ninth grade, for instance, is that of 
titular councillor, captain in the army, lieuten- 
ant in the navy, grand furrier at court, surveyor 
in the Public Works Department, master of arts of 
a university, and deacon in the church. 

There are four distinct titles for the various 
grades, by which they are always addressed by their 
inferiors. The highest two are called " High Ex- 
cellency;" the next two, "Excellency;" the next 
four, " High Nobility ; " and the remaining five, 
" Nobility." These titles do not apply to princes 
and counts. A prince of the Empire is always ad- 
dressed as " Most Serene Highness," and a count as 
" Illustriousness," no matter what his position. 

All the servants of the crown above a certain grade 
belong ex-officio to the nobility, and for those of the 
sixth class (colonel) and above in the army, and fourth 
class and above in the civil service, the nobility is 



St. Petersburg. 



237 



hereditary. By this it is not meant that they are 
noblemen, such as barons, marquises, and dukes, 
but simply that they belong to the noblesse, or noble 
class. The " Zetnstvo" i. e., the form of local self- 
government instituted by the present Emperor in 
1864, whose duties are similar to those of our 
county commissioners, is composed of deputies 
elected in certain proportions by the landed pro- 
prietors, the municipal corporations, and the village 
communes or " Mirs." The landed proprietors are 
the noblesse, and they have certain privileges be- 
sides that of electing deputies in more than their 
numerical proportion. To belong to the nobility, is 
simply to be one of this class of landed proprietors, 
and to have all its rights and privileges. The class 
is very large, being estimated, I think, to number 
about nine hundred thousand persons, or more than 
one per cent, of the whole population. The word 
nobility, in its ordinary acceptation as we derive it 
from the English customs, is evidently misleading ; 
there are vast numbers of the nobility who have 
neither wealth nor social position, and who are 
never admitted to court ; but the social customs of 
Russia being so different from those of other 
countries, there is no English word which correctly 
expresses the Russian meaning of the term noblesse 
{dvorianstvo). 

The military class in St. Petersburg is the princi- 



2 3 8 



Army Life in Russia. 



pal element in society; and society, as in all great 
capitals, is largely occupied with a gay life of 
pleasure. Those who criticise the Russians, and 
most of all the Russian critics themselves (par- 
ticularly those of German origin), are never tired of 
expatiating upon the Russian lieni or idleness — 
" the genuine Slav love of indolence and pleasure." 

This criticism seems to me to be unfounded. 
While the Russians have not much of that plodding 
character peculiar to the Germans, and are fond of 
pleasure when not urged to work, yet whenever 
there has been any necessity for long-continued 
and patient labor, the Tsar, the noble, and the 
peasant have proved themselves equally unremit- 
ting and faithful to their respective tasks. 

But there is in the Russian character a certain 
volatile element which partially justifies Bismarck's 
criticism — as reported by Dr. Busch — that the Rus- 
sians, like the French, are essentially feminine in 
character. They are very fond of criticism and of 
abstract discussions, and their criticism is frequently 
of the most illogical, not to say hysterical, order. 
It is a mistake to suppose that there is no public 
opinion in Russia ; there is at all times a very 
strong public opinion, though it is very variable ; it 
finds its expression in the press until checked by 
the warnings of the censorship bureau, when it be- 
comes all the more violent in private conversation 



St. Petersburg. 



239 



from its attempted repression in public. This pub- 
lic opinion is also far from being without influence ; 
the late war, for instance, was almost wholly due 
to it. 

The course of public opinion in the various stages 
of this war illustrates this femininity of character 
very forcibly. The declaration of war against the 
Turks was received with the liveliest pleasure by 
the whole Russian nation ; whether or not the Em- 
peror was personally opposed to the war, and only 
put himself at the head of the Moscow " national " 
movement because he could not stay it — as certain 
English papers have always represented — there are 
no data for stating ; the Emperor's personal opin- 
ions are not so publicly stated as some correspond- 
ents would have us believe. But there is no ques- 
tion whatever that his celebrated Moscow speech 
in the spring of 1877, m which he declared his in- 
tention to act independently in case he could not 
obtain justice for the Christians in Turkey by 
means of the European concert, was hailed by Rus- 
sians of every shade of opinion as the embodiment 
of their own feelings, and that the declaration of 
war was extremely popular with all classes. It is 
equally true that the public at large had very little 
idea of what war meant, or of the caliber and re- 
sources of their adversary, even unaided. They 
talked glibly of a military promenade to Constanti- 



240 Army Life in Russia. 

nople, of " the mission of Holy Russia," and of 
" the regeneration of all Slavonic races ; " they dic- 
tated the appointment of Prince Tcherkasski, one 
of the chiefs of the " national " party, as Civil High 
Commissioner, and provided him with a complete set 
of civil officials to govern the provinces of Bulgaria 
as they should be successively liberated, at the same 
time that they insisted that two hundred thousand 
men were enough to complete the war succesfully 
in a few months. Boundless confidence and en- 
thusiasm were the order of the day. 

After the war had begun there was some impa- 
tience at the delay in crossing the Danube, but this 
was soon forgotten in the brilliant success of the 
passage of the river, and in Gourko's daring advance 
over the Balkans. Then came the first check at 
Plevna, followed ten days later by a bloody repulse 
at the same place. Gourko was forced to retreat 
behind the Balkans, the Bulgarian refugees were 
abandoned to the fury of the Turks, one hundred 
and twenty thousand additional men were ordered 
to be mobilized and sent at once to the front, and 
the first ban of the militia was called out for service 
at the depots. The Turks, it seemed, were an enemy 
not to be despised. 

The mercury of public opinion now fell in a day 
from the boiling point to far below zero. The 
papers advanced charges against the army far ex- 



St. Petersburg. 



241 



ceeding in virulence anything that had ever ap- 
peared in the English prints. The generals were 
incompetent, the whole commissariat system was a 
mass of stupidity and corruption, the chief of staff 
and his principal assistant were traitorous Poles en- 
gaged in a conspiracy .to destroy the army; the 
Cesarevitch had openly shown his contempt for his 
uncle, the Commander-in-Chief, who was absolutely 
devoid of military capacity or even physical cour- 
age ; the Emperor was represented as having lost 
all dignity by the compromised position he occu- 
pied in the army ; Gortchakoff and Jomini were elabo- 
rating a new system of constitutional government^ 
and national bankruptcy was the inevitable result 
of the war. While the people in Moscow proclaim- 
ed that the war must go on at all hazards — " The 
dynasty began the war, but the nation alone can 
and will terminate it " — they at the same time were 
unsparing in their criticisms of the government for 
having called out re-enforcements at once, instead of 
waiting till four weeks later, when " the crops 
would all be in ! " Every college student was a 
strategist, who could tell you exactly just what 
principle of war had been violated, and thus brought 
disaster on the Russian arms ; and the national 
party actually proposed that the whole system of 
supply for the army should be turned over to a 

committee of provincial organizations in Southern 
n 



242 Army Life in Russia. 

Russia. In short, it was the genuine Gallic cry, 
"Nous sommes trains" all over again. 

This spirit of pessimism (from which even Anglo- 
Saxons are not altogether exempt, as was shown in 
the Crimean war) became so widespread and deep- 
seated by the long delay at Plevna, that the bril- 
liant successes of the winter hardly sufficed to 
dissipate it. There was more or less a feverish ex- 
ultation at the final capture of Pleona and the de- 
struction of the remaining Turkish armies within a 
few weeks afterward, but every one's mind was 
now occupied with expectancy concerning the terms 
*bf peace. On this question they took very high 
ground indeed, and those who a few weeks before 
had predicted bankruptcy if the war should con- 
tinue against Turkey alone, now demanded such a 
treaty as would unquestionably have brought them 
to war with the whole of Western Europe. They 
cared nothing for the wishes of Europe, but de- 
manded that the " inmost aspirations of the Slavonic 
people" should be satisfied. 

The treaty of San Stefano was finally concluded, 
mainly on the basis of the terms which had been 
proposed to Turkey by Europe collectively at the 
Constantinople conference of 1876. From one end 
of the land to the other there went up a howl of 
anger that Russia should have proposed any such 
moderate treaty, though, except that they desired 



St. Petersburg. 



243 



an occupation of Constantinople, their criticism 
never indicated distinctly what they would have 
proposed. A few weeks later it was seen that 
Europe would not accept even this treaty, which 
the advanced Russians considered too moderate. 
They were at first bewildered and stunned by this 
idea, which seemed never to have occurred to them ; 
but when, in the beginning of June, Russia decided 
to go into the Berlin Congress, they were fairly be- 
side themselves with rage. Ivan Aksakoff, the 
President of the Slav Committee and one of the 
principal mouth-pieces of the national party, held 
forth in such language as the following : " Thou vic- 
torious Power, and yet so befooled ! In the face 
of such folly in the diplomatic heads of Russia, in 
the face of such grandiose attempts to temporize, 
the power of language ceases, and thoughts can 
find no utterance. Even the most malevolent 
enemy of Russia and her dynasty could not have 
invented anything more destructive to her internal 
peace and tranquillity. There you see the true 
nihilists — the men for whom there exists neither 
a Russia nor Russian tradition, no Russian nation- 
ality, no orthodox church. . . . No — what- 
ever may take place at the Congress, however 
much the honor of Russia may be degraded, there 
yet lives our crowned protector, and he will be 
our avenger. . . . Our hopes in our Tsar 



244 



Army Life in Russia. 



cannot be shipwrecked. His word has gone forth 
that the holy work shall be carried to the end, 
and his word cannot be broken." 

I have referred mainly to the feelings and opin- 
ions of the national or Slavonic [party ; but the 
opinions of all classes of society were of the same 
nature, and only slightly moderated in tone. The 
current talk in St. Petersburg society during the 
six months succeeding the Berlin treaty was of the 
same character as that of Aksakoff. The Tsar and 
a few responsible statesmen at the head of affairs 
kept their heads cool, and accepted so much of what 
was forced upon them by Europe as was inevitable ; 
but society in general completely lost its head, and 
in the general confusion of ideas and senseless criti- 
cism of the whole course of the war, the aggressive 
revolutionary party or nihilists, who aim at the de- 
struction of all the present forms of social order, 
found their opportunity, and have taken advantage 
of it steadily for the last two years. 

Nothing could explain more clearly than these 
few sentences of Aksakoff, the irresponsible and 
unpractical nature of Russian criticism and public 
opinion, the proneness for discussion of abstract 
rather than concrete ideas, and the feverish alter- 
nations of joy and despondency into which they are 
plunged by the course of events. Perhaps it can 
hardly be otherwise so long as the nation is in its 



St. Petersburg. 



245 



tutelage, and forced to be always critics, and never 
actors responsible for putting their ideas into practi- 
cal effect ; but it is probable that it is also largely 
due to inherent traits of national character. 

Much has been written concerning the differences 
of opinion between the Emperor and his heir on 
fundamental questions of internal as well as foreign 
policy. All attempts to trace these rumors to any 
tangible foundation only result in showing that it 
is one of those cases where the wish is father to the 
thought. The Cesarevitch is intensely popular with 
all classes, the nationals of Moscow no less than the 
cosmopolitan nobility of St. Petersburg ; he has giv- 
en some evidences of hostility to the " foreign " pro- 
vinces of the Baltic and the Vistula ; he has been less 
effusive than his father in his affection for his kins- 
men in the German dynasty ; he is intensely Russian 
in feeling; he has shown a decided will and strong 
character in all the public duties that have been 
committed to him ; has been, up to the present, 
strictly pure in his domestic life (which is not the 
rule in his family), and by his founding the volunteer 
fleet, and other similar acts, has given rise to the 
idea that he sympathizes largely with the aspirations 
of the national party. In a word, while his father's 
uprightness of character, and the really great deeds 
which are associated with his name, will always in- 
sure him the love and veneration of his subjects, yet 



246 



Army Life in Russia. 



there is a vague, ill-defined feeling that he has in a 
measure out-lived his time, while his son is consid- 
ered the embodiment of the Russian spirit of to-day. 
Every one believes, though no one can give the ex- 
act grounds of his belief, that the Cesarevitch will 
signalize his accession to the throne by a reform 
hardly less great than the abolition of serfdom, viz. : 
by granting some sort of constitution or charter of 
rights, of which the principal feature will be a na- 
tional elective assembly. The longing for this is 
shared by great masses of people who have nothing 
whatever in common with nihilism, and nothing but 
abhorrence of its methods and principles. They 
care but little as to the share which this assembly 
shall have in practical legislation. Always basing 
their ideas on the same thought as that of the 
private soldier, " If the Tsar only knew, all would 
be well," they are anxious for the formation of a 
responsible chamber, through which the Emperor 
may know what his subjects' feelings are, and what 
are the doings of his government. At present, al- 
though the Tsar moves and talks freely and con- 
stantly among all the grades of his army, yet no 
other class of his people can have access to him 
except through his regularly constituted ministers. 
Every bit of information which he receives must 
be filtered through these, and it only too frequently 
happens that the unsavory portions never pass the 



St. Petersburg. 



247 



filters. Could the Emperor know with certainty of 
the abuses which are perpetrated in his name by the 
subordinate officials in the "Third Section" or poli- 
tical police, in the press censorship, in the collection 
of taxes, in the disbursement of public moneys, they 
feel sure that these abuses would quickly cease. 
But how can he know of these things, they argue, 
when he is surrounded at all hours by an impene- 
trable veil of courtiers and ministers, interested in 
maintaining the present order of things, and tempt- 
ed only too often beyond the limit of human resist- 
ance, knowing that their acts are secure from pub- 
licity? The Emperor Nicholas spent his life in 
attempting to stamp out the corruption of his pub- 
lic servants, but he failed utterly; and when his 
system of severity crashed to pieces during the 
Crimean war, he died of a broken heart. People 
reason that no one man can do any better than he 
did, unless assisted by a public opinion which shall 
be based upon responsible utterances and proofs of 
incontrovertible fact made in a public assembly. 

No man can tell what will be the result of the 
crisis through which Russia is now passing; but that 
the crisis is a profound one in her history, it would 
be idle to deny. Few men, indeed, are able to form 
a clear idea of the depth or the shallowness of the 
seething ebullition of feeling which is the outcome 
of the liberal reforms and vast economic changes of 



248 



Army Life in Russia. 



the present reign, of the rise and growth of na- 
tional and Slavonic aspirations, and of the events of 
the late war. 

In the last ten years we have had three great 
books — those of Dixon and Wallace, and the long 
series of articles by Leroy-Beaulieu in the Revue des 
deux Mondes — which have revealed Russia to the 
western world as she has never before been re- 
vealed. All three have dealt mainly with the results 
of the recent changes in the internal government of 
the country. Within the present year they have 
been aptly supplemented by the work of one who 
is either a Russian of the Baltic Provinces, or else 
some one who faithfully represents the feelings of 
those provinces. In " Russia Before and After the 
War " we have a vivid portrayal of the current of 
Russian thought in the last few years, which is no 
less clear than the unconscious exhibition which it 
makes of that femininity of character which Bismarck 
speaks of. It abounds in sweeping and confused 
criticism of precisely the same kind that you will 
hear from any Russian who admits you to his confi- 
dence sufficiently to talk of the affairs of his own 
country. Wallace and Leroy-Beaulieu gave won- 
derfully plain accounts of the condition of Russia 
as it appears to a foreigner. The anonymous Ger- 
mano-Russian reveals the confused and struggling 
current of thought which is running through Rus- 



St. Petersburg. 



249 



sian minds at this moment. What will be the out- 
come of it, it would be idle to attempt to predict. 
Whether another French revolution is impending ; 
whether the present form of government will 
weather the storm ; whether concessions can be 
made without the appearance of yielding to fear ; 
whether these concessions will achieve the ends for 
which they are made, or whether they will only add 
fuel to the present flame of vague discontent ; how 
much real sympathy, in fact, exists for this desire of 
change — all these are questions upon which it is 
almost impossible for any one to give conclusive 
answers. We can only see that, in the short period of 
twenty years, the most vast and fundamental changes 
have been made in the social economy of a great 
state ; that these changes have more or less unsettled 
people's elementary beliefs, and have brought about 
a widespread commotion in the world of ideas ; and 
that the more visionary and desperate class of the 
community have supplemented their ideas with 
deeds of foul and loathsome crime. Whether these 
people will succeed in imparting their own views to 
the nation at large, and bring about a vast uprising 
to be followed by anarchy and misrule, out of which 
eventually a stable but different form of govern- 
ment will arise, or whether the better and conserva- 
tive sense of the community will assert itself to 
crush out lawlessness, and gradually accustom itself, 



250 



Army Life in Russia. 



to the new order of things, the future alone can de- 
termine. It is a great and in many ways a unique 
phase of national development, the progress of 
which we may be sure the world will watch with 
intense interest. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE EASTERN QUESTION. 

It may seem strange that, in a book intended to 
tell something of the habits and characteristics of 
the officers and men of the Russian army, I should 
have anything to say on a political question, con- 
cerning which volumes, and pages, and columns 
have already been written, particularly in the last 
few years. Yet it must be remembered that the 
Russian army exists, in a large measure, by reason 
of the Eastern question ; that many thousands of 
Russian soldiers have died righting in defense of 
their view of it, and that many more will probably 
meet the same fate before the question is decided. 
But for the Eastern question, the Russian army 
would only be a small fraction numerically of what 
it is now; the lives of its officers and men would be 
passed otherwise ; their character, and feelings, and 
thoughts would be different from what they actually 
are. 

The Eastern question overshadows and pene- 
trates everything connected with the Russian army. 
During the year and a half that I was with it in the 

251 



252 



Army Life in Russia. 



field, or at St. Petersburg, I breathed the atmos- 
phere of this question at all hours ; it filled a large 
portion of every newspaper that I received, whether 
from St. Petersburg, Paris, or London ; it entered 
into every conversation of any length which I held 
with Russian officers ; it was the all-absorbing topic 
in the diplomatic society of Constantinople and St. 
Petersburg. While one of its most important crises 
— that between the treaties of San Stefano and Ber- 
lin — was being developed, the whole army waited, 
expectant and anxious, but otherwise unoccupied, 
and watched its progress from day to day ; for on 
the result depended the movements of the army 
and the lives of many of its officers and men. So 
far, then, from being foreign to the subject of these 
sketches, the Eastern question forms a large part of 
the thoughts and daily life of Russian military men, 
fully as much so as their marches and battles, and 
for this reason I have thought it not inappropriate 
to refer to it. While I cannot hope to say much, if 
anything, that is new on a subject that has been so 
thoroughly discussed, yet I have endeavored to 
bring together within a single chapter the salient 
features of this unique phase of history. I have 
also attempted to give prominence to the Russian 
views of the question — which, in the main, I believe 
to be the correct ones — because Americans are in the 
habit of hearing only the other side. Our language 



The Eastern Question. 



253 



being the same as that of England, and the opinions 
of the Continent being transmitted to us principally 
through the English press, we receive constantly 
the most prejudiced, unfair, and at times false 
statements about Eastern affairs. It is true that 
the parties in England are sharply divided on this 
question, and we hear from both; but the arguments 
of the Liberal party are directed less to prove that 
Russia is following the cause of right, in waging 
war on the Ottoman government, than to show that 
the blustering course of the Conservatives has 
played into the hands of Russia. When in power, 
the Liberals have seldom acted fairly and openly 
with Russia, and it was a Liberal administration 
which framed tne treaty of Paris — the most false 
step in the whole history of Eastern affairs. 

For the facts given in the earlier period of the 
following sketch I have drawn largely on Sir 
Edward Creary's " History of the Ottoman Turks," 
which, in turn, is founded on Von Hammer, who is 
the standard authority on the subject. For the 
later period I have relied on the voluminous Parlia- 
mentary papers referring to Turkey. 

In 1356 the Ottoman Turks entered Europe by 
crossing the Dardanelles and seizing Gallipoli. 
The Eastern question then arose, and it has been a 
burning question for the greater part of Europe 



254 



Army Life in Russia. 



from that day to this. It arises from the irreconci- 
lability of opposing religions, and is complicated in 
its later periods by the jealousies of the different 
nationalities professing that religion which has 
proved to be the stronger. But intrinsically it is a 
question of religion : the question whether the Turks 
— professing the religion which they do, carrying its 
precepts into every transaction of daily life, and 
possessing the character which springs from it — 
whether these Turks shall be suffered to remain in 
Europe, and to govern other races of a different 
creed in accordance with the prejudice founded on 
the Koran, and having almost the force of common 
law, that unbelievers are mere dogs, possessed of no 
rights, entitled to no justice, to oppress whom is a 
virtue, and to kill whom is a religious privilege.* 

* There is not a chapter of the Koran which does not breathe 
forth hatred against all those who do not believe in it, and for the sole 
ground of this lack of belief. In one place it is commanded, " O 
true believers, wage war against such of the infidels as are near 
you;" in another it is said, "Hell shall surely encompass the un- 
believers ; " and again, " Mohammed is the apostle of God ; and 
those who are with him are fierce against the unbelievers, but com- 
passionate towards one another ; " and finally, " The unbeliever is 
contemptible in the sight of the Lord." Quotations of a similar 
character might be taken from nearly every page, and in fact, next 
to the cardinal principles of the unity of God and the divine in- 
spiration of Mohammed, the doctrine which the Koran most strenu- 
ously teaches, is the right and duty of waging unending war upon all 
those who do not acknowledge its divine origin and validity. 



The Eastern Question. 255 

There is no cause which so deeply stirs men's 
souls, or prompts them to wage war so fiercely, as a 
dispute concerning the attributes of God, or con- 
cerning the merits of those who claim to be his 
prophets ; and the difference between the Christian 
and Mohammedan creeds is so radical and funda- 
mental, the statute and common laws based on 
them respectively are so utterly antagonistic in 
principle, and the feelings with which they are sup- 
ported by their respective partisans are so intense, 
that there can never be lasting peace between con- 
tiguous nations, one professing one creed and the 
other professing the other ; even were each nation 
composed only of members of its own faith. But 
if, in addition to this, one of the nations, and the 
one whose creed and practice are the most intoler- 
ant of opposition, the most regardless of ordinary 
justice, and the most reckless of human life, has in 
its power several millions of people belonging to the 
other faith, then we may be sure that the conflict 
will never end so long as both of them continue to 
exist. It will terminate only with the death of the 
weaker. 

At the time the Turks entered Europe, the East- 
ern Empire of Rome had proceeded so far in its 
course of disintegration that nothing remained of it 
but Constantinople, Trebizond, and Salonica, and a 
small amount of territory around each, as well as 



I 

256 Army Life in Russia. 

the lower portion of the Peloponnesus. The king- 
doms of Bulgaria and Servia comprised the lands 
south of the Danube ; to the north of them was the 
extensive kingdom of Hungary, and to the east of 
this was Moldavia. The islands of the ^Egean and 
the eastern Mediterranean were colonies of Venice 
or other Frank powers. 

Every one of these countries was overrun and re- 
duced to complete subjugation by the Turks in the 
course of the next two centuries. In 1 361 they 
captured Adrianople, and made it, temporarily, 
their European capital. In 1363 they captured 
Philippopolis, in 1 371 Tirnova, and in 1382 Sophia. 
In 1389 they destroyed in the battle of Kossova the 
last confederated army of Bulgarians, Servians, Wal- 
lachians, and Bosnians, and completed their con- 
quests as far as the borders of Hungary. It was 
only in the next century, however, and nearly a 
hundred years after their entry into Europe, that, 
after repeated failures, they finally succeeded, on 
May 29th, 1453, in capturing Constantinople ; and 
thus extinguished forever the Eastern Empire, and 
made themselves one of the most powerful nations 
of Europe. 

For nearly seventy years after the taking of Con- 
stantinople the Turks were busy in consolidating 
their power in Europe, and in extending their do- 
minion through Syria to Egypt. Then, with the ac- 



The Eastern Questiojt. 



257 



cession of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1520, the 
tide of conquest turned northward again. In the 
next year Belgrade was taken, and, in a series of 
wars which followed, the kingdom of Hungary was 
destroyed, and passed under the direct or tributary 
power of the Turks. At the close of Suleiman's 
reign in 1566, the Turkish dominions included all 
the lands as far north as Buda-Pesth, and their 
tributary states comprised Transylvania, Wallachia, 
Moldavia, the Crimea, and the shores of the Sea of 
Azov ; thus completing the circuit of the Black Sea, 
save a small portion inhabited by the mountain 
tribes of the Caucasus. Their territorial possessions 
in Europe were then far greater than those of any 
other nation, save only Russia, which was at that 
time more Asiatic than European. The Sultan 
ruled nearly fifty millions of people ; he could put a 
well-equipped army of three hundred thousand men 
in the field ; and he received a tribute of thirty 
thousand ducats a year from the proud house of 
Hapsburg. His fleet under Barbarossa was mistress 
of the Mediterranean, and was able to cope with 
and defeat the combined navies of Venice, the 
Pope, and the German Emperor. 

Turkey was the first of the " Great Powers " of 
that day, equally feared and hated by all its rivals. 

The wave of conquest had now reached its far- 
thest limit ; it remained nearly stationary for about 



258 Army Life in Russia. 

a hundred years, and then the tide turned, and has 
ever since been slowly but surely receding whence it 
came, until now but little more remains to the 
Turks in Europe than did to the Eastern Empire at 
the time of their arrival. 

This retrocession did not begin suddenly, how- 
ever. The first decisive check was received by the 
Turks early in Suleiman's reign (1529), when an 
army of over two hundred thousand men was de- 
feated under the walls of Vienna ; and the second 
occurred later in the same reign, when the naval ex- 
pedition against Malta resulted in total failure. In 
1 571 a fleet of two hundred and sixty ships and 
thirty thousand men was destroyed at Lepanto by 
the combined navies of Venice, Spain and the Pope ; 
and about the same time the first encounter took 
place between the Russian and Turkish arms, aris- 
ing from an expedition sent by the Turks to cut a 
channel from the Don to the Volga, and thus give 
the Turkish fleets an entrance to the Caspian. 

But although all these expeditions resulted in de- 
feat, the Turks were then in the full vigor of their 
youthful vitality, and they quickly recovered from 
them, without loss of prestige or territory. This 
vitality nevertheless soon came to be sapped in the 
succession of weak and sensual sultans who fol- 
lowed the great Suleiman, and in the general cor- 
ruption of the ruling class, the beginning of which 



The Eastern Question. 259 



dates from this period — the close of the sixteenth 
and beginning of the seventeenth century. Con- 
stant revolts in Hungary also tended to weaken the 
strength of the Porte, and several years later the 
decisive defeat by John Sobieski, in 1683, of 
another great Turkish army at Vienna was hailed 
throughout Christendom as the beginning of the 
downfall of the Ottoman power. 

It was not, however, until the end of the seven- 
teenth century that the Turks ever formally ratified 
any cession of territory. The treaty of Carlowitz, 
which was signed January 26,. 1699, at the close of a 
disastrous campaign against the Austrians under 
Prince Eugene, and the Russians under Peter the 
Great, is the great turning-point in Turkish history. 
Austria, Russia, Poland and Venice, took part in a 
congress, at which England and Holland appeared 
alsoas mediators, and all four nations signed treaties 
with Turkey, by which Transylvania, Hungary, and a 
part of Servia were ceded to Austria, Podolia to Po- 
land, the shores of the Sea of Azov and the Crimea to 
Russia, the Morea and part of Dalmatia to Venice. 

The ancient Turkish saying that " Every place 
where the hoof of the Sultan's horse has once trod 
becomes at once, and forever, part of the Sultan's 
dominions," was belied by the logic of events, and 
was henceforth but a vain and empty boast. 

The wars of Austria and Russia against Turkey 



26o 



Army Life in Russia. 



continued at short intervals, and with varying suc- 
cess, throughout the whole of the eighteenth century. 
Venice disappeared from the scene at the peace of 
Passarowitz, in 171 8, in which, although an ally of 
Austria, she was obliged to give back the Morea to 
Turkey. 

Austria at first gained another large piece of Ser- 
via, but after Eugene's death was unable to retain 
it ; while Peter was obliged in 171 1 to sue for peace 
and to give back Azov and the Crimea, although 
they were recovered again by Miinnich for the Em- 
press Anne in 1739. 

The Empress Catherine, the most ambitious of 
all the rulers of Russia, prosecuted the wars against 
the Turks to the full extent of her power during 
her entire reign. She permanently won back the 
Crimea and the Black Sea coast ; and she also made 
a treaty, known as that of Kainardji, in 1774, which 
contained the following clause, which subsequently 
gave rise to much contention as to its true meaning, 
viz. : " The sublime Porte promises to protect con- 
stantly the Christian religion and its churches," and 
it also allows the Russian ambassador to make rep- 
resentations in behalf of the Greek church in Con- 
stantinople and its ministers. 

A dozen years later Catherine embarked in 
another war against the Turks, this time in alliance 
with Austria ; but the latter power withdrew, and 



The Eastern Question. 



261 



Russia prosecuted the war alone and with great suc- 
cess, thanks to Suwarof. By the treaty of Yassy, 
made in 1791, Russia advanced her frontiers to the 
Dniester, and compelled the Turks to acknowledge 
her authority over the tribes on the northern side 
of the Caucasus. Catherine was again preparing for 
another struggle, which she hoped might be final, 
when death put an end to all her plans in 1796. 

An entirely new aspect was now given to affairs 
in the East by the rise of Napoleon in France, and 
for the next twenty years the Eastern question was 
diverted from its usual course and made subservient 
to the policies brought about by Napoleon's plans 
of conquest. His Egyptian campaign first brought 
England into the field, as an ally of Russia and 
Turkey against France. Subsequently, when Napo- 
leon courted the friendship of the Sultan, England 
joined Russia against the Turks. But England's at- 
tention being soon occupied elsewhere, Russia con- 
tinued the war alone, and in 1812 made a treaty by 
which her frontier was advanced to the Pruth. 

After the fall of Napoleon Eastern affairs drifted 
back into their natural channel, and now the three 
principal nations interested — Russia, Turkey, and 
England — began gradually to assume the positions 
which they have maintained to the present day: 
Russia, the protector of the misgoverned Christians ; 
Turkey, their oppressor; and England sustaining 



262 



Army Life in Russia. 



Turkey in behalf of her own interests in the East. 
From this time Austria has remained in the back- 
ground, except at decisive diplomatic moments. 

The subjugated provinces also began to strike 
blows for their independence ; Servia had been 
fighting since 1808, Moldavia and Wallachia since 
1820, and Greece since 1821. The Emperor Nicho- 
las, immediately after his accession, took all these 
people under his protection, and forced on the 
Turks without a war the treaty of Akerman in 

1826, by which Servia became semi-independent, 
and the Hospodars, or governors of Moldavia and 
Wallachia, who were elected by the Boyars or lords 
of the land from among their own number, were 
not to be removed by the Porte except with the 
permission of Russia. In 1827, England, under the 
leadership of Canning, joined Russia and France 
in a treaty of mediation between Turkey and the 
Greeks, by which the independence of a portion of 
Greece was demanded. The Sultan declining to ac- 
cede to this, the combined fleets of the allies de- 
stroyed the Turkish navy at Navarino in October, 

1827. But Canning died, the battle of Navarino 
was spoken of by his successor as an " untoward 
event," and England and France withdrew from the 
position they had assumed. The Emperor Nicho- 
las, however, determined to make his word good, 
and promptly waged war to accomplish it ; Russian 



The Eastern Question. 



263 



troops for the first time crossed the Balkans, and in 
1829 dictated at Adrianople a treaty of which the 
essential feature was the erection of Greece into an 
independent kingdom. In addition to this, more 
guaranties were provided to secure the semi-inde- 
pendence of Servia, and it was stipulated that no 
Mussulman should reside in Moldavia or Wallachia. 

This cursory review of the principal facts in Turk- 
ish history, from the time of their entry into 
Europe, is a necessary introduction to a study of 
the events of the last fifty years. We see that the 
Turks, after overrunning the weak nations south of 
the Danube, were finally stopped by Austria, and 
that it was Austria who held them in check and 
first began to drive them backward. Russia joined 
her in this work, and then finally took nearly all of 
it upon herself, while the western nations took no 
very active part in the matter until they became by 
accident, rather than design, involved in it during 
the wars of Napoleon. 

It was but a few years after the treaty of Adria- 
nople when, in 1833, the Turkish Empire was threat- 
ened with destruction by the great rebellion of 
Ibrahim, Pasha of Egypt. Such a fate promised no 
good to the Christians, and nothing but anarchy for 
Turkey, and the Emperor Nicholas at once came to 
the Sultan's aid by landing troops for the defense 
of Constantinople. In 1839, another war broke out 



264 



Army Life in Russia. 



with Egypt, and this time the great powers all 
united to suppress the rebellion, and to regulate the 
relations between the Sultan and his Viceroy. The 
treaty of 1 841 which arranged these matters was 
signed by Austria, France, England, Prussia, Russia, 
and Turkey ; and since that time the great powers 
have all taken cognizance of everything relating to 
Turkey. 

That power which, after Russia, has assumed to 
have the most interest in the matter, is England. 
Her modern position on this question was first 
enunciated by Mr. Pitt in 1792 ; he argued that 
a the true principle by which the foreign policy of 
England should be directed, was the fundamental 
principle of preserving the balance of power in 
Europe ; and that the true doctrine of the balance 
of power required that the Russian Empire should 
not, if possible, be allowed to increase, nor that of 
Turkey to diminish." This was the first enuncia- 
tion of that theorem of the " integrity and indepen- 
dence of the Ottoman Empire " on which the Treaty 
of Paris was founded, seventy-four years later; it 
asserted that, no matter how hideous might be the 
misgovernment of the Turks, their empire must be 
propped up and maintained, that Russia must al- 
ways remain a semi-Asiatic power, and that the 
wheels of progress must stand still. It assumed 
that it was possible " to dam up the waters of the 



The Eastern Question. 



265 



Nile with bulrushes ; " and it was singularly opposed 
in principle to the views which Mr. Pitt's father had 
held in regard to the American colonies. 

But Pitt was unable to enforce his views by any 
practical measures ; England could not afford to 
wage war for them unsupported ; France was in the 
throes of the Revolution, and the other nations 
could not be induced to support them actively. 
Not long afterward all Europe was distracted by the 
wars of Napoleon. 

But meanwhile the English possessions in India 
were rapidly developing into a vast empire. When 
the wars of Napoleon were over and Europe had re- 
turned to its normal condition, Englishmen began 
to turn their thoughts to the East, and to make pre- 
parations to secure their eastern possessions against 
all possible rivals. Although Russia did not begin 
her advances in Central Asia till several years later, 
yet, in view of the possibility of a Suez canal or an 
overland route along the Euphrates, a certain class 
of Englishmen began to reason that the security of 
their eastern possessions depended on keeping Rus- 
sia out of the Mediterranean at any cost. When, 
therefore, these same views of Pitt were repeated in a 
slightly different form by Palmerston and others, in 
the second third of this century, they found ready 
listeners ; and hatred of Russia became an article 

of faith with a large portion of the English public. 
12 



266 



Army Life in Russia. 



We have seen that, in 1829, the Emperor Nicholas 
established the independence of Greece and the 
semi-independence of Moldavia, Wallachia, and 
Servia. The Ottoman Empire then began to tot- 
ter, but the Sultan of the day, Mahmoud II., was a 
man of no small force of character, and he made a 
desperate struggle to put his house in order and 
prevent its fall. Early in his reign he had had the 
courage to attempt a reform of the most vital cha- 
racter, viz., the suppression of the rebellious and 
turbulent Janissaries. This body of soldiers was 
originally recruited by the system of " blood-tax ; " 
i. e., a certain number of Christian children were 
abducted every year from the conquered provinces, 
forcibly brought up in the Moslem faith, and incor- 
porated in the army. They were for a long series 
of years the finest soldiers in the Turkish service, 
but eventually they became its most intolerable 
scourge. By their insubordination and rebellion at 
critical periods they caused more than one cam- 
paign to be lost ; and it is a fine instance of retrib- 
utive justice, that a system originally designed to 
exact the most hideous form of tribute should final- 
ly have come home to curse its authors, and been 
instrumental in hastening their downfall. Mah- 
moud saw that he could never hope for success in 
the field with a mutinous army, and he suppressed 
the Janissaries in 1826, by massacreing nearly twen- 



The Eastern Question. 



267 



ty-five thousand of them at their barracks in Con- 
stantinople and elsewhere throughout the empire. 
After 1829 Mahmoud turned his attention to the 
internal condition of his country, with a view to 
make such reforms as might preserve it from de- 
struction ; but he died in 1839,. before mu ch progress 
had been made in formulating his projects, and far 
less in executing them. 

His successor, however, had been carefully edu- 
cated in his own ideas, and before he had been six 
months on the throne he promulgated the first of 
that long series of proclamations and edicts which 
have been so greatly in vogue with the Turkish ru- 
lers of the last forty years, and which, under the 
form of glittering generalities concerning right and 
justice, and imperial commands that the life and 
property of their subjects shall be respected, have in 
reality been addressed to Europe as an evidence of 
repentance on the part of the Turkish rulers, and a 
cause why judgment should not now be pronounced 
against them for their many and terrible crimes. 

This remarkable document, the Hatti-Scheriff of 
Gulhane (where it was signed), bearing the date of 
November 3, 1839, begins by reciting that " all 
the world knows that in the first days of the Otto- 
man monarchy, the glorious precepts of the Koran 
and the laws of the Empire were always honored. 
The Empire, in consequence, increased in strength 



268 



Army Life in Russia. 



and greatness, and all her subjects, without excep- 
tion, had risen in the highest degree to ease and 
prosperity. In the last hundred and fifty years a 
succession of accidents and divers causes have 
arisen, which have brought about a disregard for the 
sacred code of laws and the regulations flowing 
therefrom, and the former strength and prosperity 
have turned into weakness and poverty; an empire, 
in fact, loses all its stability so soon as it ceases to 
observe its laws." 

The Sultan therefore prescribes and orders the 
following : 

" 1st. Guarantees insuring to our subjects perfect 
security for life, honor, and fortune. 2d. A regular 
system of assessing and levying the taxes. 3d. An 
equally regular system for the levy of troops and 
the duration of service." 

In order to carry out these projects it is ordered 
that " henceforth the cause of every accused person 
shall be publicly judged in accordance with the 
divine law," and "no one can be put to death by 
poison or otherwise," except after such public 
judgment. " No one shall be allowed to attack 
the honor of another." " Each one shall possess 
his property of every kind, and shall dispose of it 
in all freedom, without let or hindrance from any 
person whatever." 

" We therefore grant perfect security to the in- 



The Eastern Question. 



269 



habitants of our Empire, in their lives, their honor, 
and their fortunes, as they are secured to them by 
the sacred text of our law." 

The document significantly concludes by com- 
manding not only that this imperial rescript shall be 
published throughout the empire, but also that it 
" shall be officially communicated to all the ambassa- 
dors of friendly Powers, resident at Constantinople, 
that they may be witnesses of these institutions, 
which, should it please God, shall last forever." * 

But this proclamation produced no practical re- 
sult beyond deceiving Europe for a short time with 
its promises. Whether the Sultan was sincere in 
his intentions or not is a matter of no practical 
importance, for the Koran everywhere speaks of 
unbelievers in such terms of scorn and hatred, that 
the idea of their being treated with the same justice 
as Mussulmans is repugnant to the very fundamental 
doctrines of the Moslem faith. Were any such 
general edicts to be followed by detailed laws for 
their enforcement, and were any serious effort made 
to give them practical effect, the Sultan could not 
remain on his throne a minute. A grand mufti f 
would immediately be found, to whom would be pre- 

* The text of this edict is given at length in Herstlet's "Map of 
Europe by Treaty," from which the above extracts are taken, as well 
as all other extracts and references throughout this chapter to treaties 
since 1815. 

f Chief interpreter of Moslem law. 



270 



Army Life in Russia, 



sented, as in the case of Sultan Selim in 1807, and 
Abdul Aziz in 1876, and several of their predeces- 
sors, a series of questions asking whether a Sultan 
who had done so and so had not violated the 
organic law, and made himself liable to deposition 
and death. The mufti, as in the other cases, would 
answer Yes, and cite a verse of the Koran ; and a 
few hours later a salute of a hundred guns from 
Seraglio Point would announce the accession of a 
new ruler. This form of proceeding has been car- 
ried out too often to leave any doubt that it would 
be promptly repeated were any Sultan to offer 
such violence to Moslem traditions and feelings as 
to attempt really to enforce a law granting equal 
justice to the faithful and to the unbelievers. 

The Emperor Nicholas, seeing that this procla- 
mation was merely a grand farce, that the oppres- 
sion of the Christians was becoming more and more 
intolerable, that the corruption and degradation of 
the ruling class were ever increasing, that the 
authority of the government was being weakened 
and its dissolution approaching, and that the East- 
ern question, so long as it remained in that condi- 
tion, was a standing menace to the peace of Europe 
— resolved upon a course of action which certainly 
went to the root of the whole matter. He pro- 
posed that Russia and England should come to a 
distinct understanding concerning the Eastern ques- 



The Eastern Question. 271 



tion, and that the Ottoman government should then 
be driven out of Europe. 

He first sounded several English statesmen on 
the subject, during a visit to England in 1844; but 
meeting with but little response, he deferred the 
subject for nearly ten years. In 1853 he brought it 
forward again in those memorable and much-quoted 
conversations with the British ambassador, Sir Ham- 
ilton Seymour, in which the Turk was first spoken 
of as a " sick man." 

The Emperor disclaimed any desire for territorial 
aggrandizement, but said, " The affairs of Turkey 
are in a very disorganized condition ; the country 
itself seems to be falling to pieces ; the fall will be a 
great misfortune, and it is very important that Eng- 
land and Russia should come to a perfectly good 
understanding upon these affairs, and that neither 
should take any decisive step of which the other is 
not apprised." 

In the next conversation he repeated the state- 
ment that the Turk was a very sick man, " liable to 
die on our hands at any moment/' and suggested 
whether it would not be well to agree beforehand 
what should be done in such a contingency, rather 
han to leave everything to the chances of a Euro- 
pean war, which would otherwise be unavoidable. 

Subsequently he became more definite in his pro- 
posals and stated positively that he would never 



272 



Army Life in Russia. 



permit England to take Constantinople, nor would 
he take it permanently for himself. He suggested 
that Servia and Bulgaria should receive the same 
form of independence as that already enjoyed by 
the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, and 
that he had no objection to England taking Egypt 
and Crete if she desired. But these were mere sug- 
gestions, and he intimated his desire to hear what 
England had to propose, the great object being that 
England and Russia should come to an agreement 
about this never-ending Eastern question, and thus 
remove the greatest source of European wars. He 
also referred to the several millions of Christian sub- 
jects in Turkey, whose interests he was called upon 
to watch over, while the right of doing so was se- 
cured to him by treaty. 

The English ambassador was far more than a 
match for the Emperor in diplomatic craft and 
astuteness ; he succeeded in drawing him out very 
fully without in the least committing himself, or 
answering anything but the vaguest generalities, as 
a prelude to further questions. He then sent home 
a verbatim account of the whole series of conver- 
sations, which was published to the world about a 
year later, accompanying it with the remark that 
they proved that the Emperor considered that the 
time " not of the dissolution, but for the dissolution 
of Turkey had arrived." 



The Eastern Question. 



273 



To these frank proposals, uttered with so much of 
almost na'fveness, the cabinet of Lord Aberdeen re- 
plied in a haughty tone, that it was not usual to 
make arrangements for dismembering an ally, and 
that England did not covet any of the Turkish pos- 
sessions. The Emperor Nicholas was deeply morti- 
fied at the manner in which his confidences had 
been received, and this naturally inspired in him an 
intense hatred of England, which he bore to the day 
of his death, and transmitted to his successors ; 
while England, on the other hand, looked upon him 
as a secret conspirator, who had shown his hand, 
but in whom no confidence was henceforth to be 
placed. In this state of affairs a war was only a 
question of time and opportunity. 

A pretext for it was, in fact, already at hand in a 
triangular quarrel between the Roman and Greek 
churches and the Turks, concerning the holy places 
at Jerusalem. This quarrel was actively fomented 
by the French Emperor, who eagerly sought for any- 
thing to distract the attention of his subjects from 
his own usurpation. The Emperor Nicholas also 
fomented it, and went even further, by sending a 
special ambassador to Constantinople to demand a 
formal and more explicit acknowledgment from the 
Porte of his authority to protect the Christians in 
Turkey, as laid down in the treaty of Kainardji. 
This was demanded in eight days, and being refused, 



274 



Army Life in Russia. 



the Emperor Nicholas marched his troops into the 
principalities and began the war. England and 
France came to the aid of Turkey on the ground 
that " its integrity and independence had been rec- 
ognized as essential to the peace of Europe ; " later 
on Sardinia, anxious to attract the attention of 
Europe upon herself, and to lay the foundations of 
a great state by a war in which she incurred little or 
no danger, joined the allies in a struggle in which 
she had not the remotest concern. 

The events of the Crimean war are too recent and 
well known to call for any recapitulation. It would 
be hard to say on which side there was the greater 
mismanagement and corruption in military adminis- 
tration ; by common consent there was but one man 
— Todleben — of any military genius on either side. 
But Russia was overmatched, not so much by the 
numbers or resources of her opponents as by her own 
backwardness in civilization, her lack of railroads or 
other means of communication — in short, by the 
very hugeness and primitiveness of her Empire. 
The Emperor Nicholas died of grief as one after 
another of his life-long and cherished hopes, and 
plans, and beliefs crumbled to pieces and disap- 
peared, and his successor was obliged to acknowl- 
edge himself beaten, and sign a treaty full of care- 
fully devised humiliation, in order to devote himself 
and his people to the work of internal regeneration. 



The Eastern Question. 



275 



Englishmen came home as victors, well pleased with 
themselves, some asserting that they had set back 
the march of Russian conquest for a hundred years, 
while others claimed more modestly that they had 
prevented war between Russia and Turkey for twen- 
ty-five years to come. What Englishmen now 
think of the wisdom of the Crimean war may be 
judged from the fact that two years ago they could 
not be induced to repeat the experiment, although 
urged on to it by the most crafty and unscrupulous 
leader that England has had for many generations. 

The treaty of Paris, which ended this war, was 
based upon two fundamental ideas : first, the main- 
tenance of the integrity and independence of the 
Ottoman Empire, and its admission as an integral 
part of the European system of states ; and second, 
humiliation of Russia. 

To accomplish the latter it was provided that the 
natural frontier line of the Pruth and Danube, con- 
quered by Russia in 1812, should be abolished, and in 
place of it an irregular line should be established a 
few miles back across the marshes of Bessarabia. By 
this means the frontiers of Russia and Turkey would 
not be contiguous, but would be separated by a nar- 
row strip of territory belonging to the principali- 
ties. It was further stipulated that the Black Sea 
should be " neutralized ;" i. e., while remaining open 
to the commerce of all nations, no man-of-war 



276 



Army Life in Russia, 



should float upon it, and no arsenals should be main- 
tained on its shores.' Moreover, it was stipulated in 
a separate treaty between England, France, and 
Sweden, that the former Powers would guarantee 
the latter against encroachments by Russia. The 
Swedish territories were in no way threatened, but 
they afforded a convenient pretext for a gratuitous 
insult to Russia. 

Concerning the maintenance of the Ottoman Em- 
pire, the seventh article of the Treaty of Paris ad- 
mitted the Sublime Porte " to participate in the 
advantages of the public law and system (concert) 
of Europe," and declared that each of the Powers 
would " respect the independence and territorial in- 
tegrity of the Ottoman Empire." The eighth article 
declared that each Power would resort to mediation 
before having recourse to force in case of a misun- 
derstanding. By a separate convention, England, 
France, and Austria agreed to guarantee this in- 
tegrity and independence, and to consider any 
infraction of the Treaty of Paris a casus belli. 

The semi-independence of Wallachia, Moldavia, 
and Servia were confirmed, and these principalities 
were placed under the protection of the Great 
Powers, each of whom was forbidden to interfere 
in their internal affairs. 

On its part, Turkey laid before the congress the 
edict of the Sultan, known as the Hatti-Huma- 



The Eastern Question. 



277 



youm, which had been formulated a few days 
before the treaty was signed, and "which, while 
ameliorating the condition of the Sultan's subjects 
without distinction of religion or of race, records 
his generous intentions toward the Christian popula- 
tion of his empire." This edict, however, was not 
to give the Powers, either collectively or separately, 
the right to interfere between the Sultan and his 
subjects. 

Finally, the treaty reaffirmed the previous trea- 
ties by which the Bosphorus and Dardanelles were 
closed to foreign ships of war. 

Such were the provisions of the instrument by 
which England flattered herself that she had curbed 
the ambition and dwarfed the power of the " Co- 
lossus of the North," had extinguished the aspira- 
tions of the races struggling to free themselves 
from the Turkish misrule, and had propped up and 
invigorated the decaying members of the most cor- 
rupt, intolerable, cruel, and tyrannical government 
that has ever existed in Europe. France, in general, 
cared little or nothing for the merits of the Eastern 
question, and had entered the war only for " glory," 
at the instance of a political adventurer who had 
placed himself on the throne and sought by foreign 
war to make his subjects forget how foully he had 
betrayed them. 

What was the result of it all, this treaty that was 



278 



Army Life in Russia. 



to put Eastern affairs on a new and permanent 
basis? Less than twenty-five years later, the 
French usurper had been disposed of ignominiously 
and forever in the fourth and last of his foreign 
adventures in quest of " glory ; " Russia had torn 
up the clause relating to the Black Sea, and had re- 
established her Bessarabian frontier ; the territo- 
ry whose integrity had been guaranteed had been 
reduced to one-third of its former proportions ; the 
condition of its subject races was more intolerable 
than ever; their hatred of their oppressors more 
intense ; the Turkish Empire was still more infirm, 
and its existence was more than ever a source of 
danger to the tranquillity of Europe. 

Russia, indeed, was worsted physically, but not 
morally, in the contest in the Crimea. The prin- 
ciples for which she fought are living principles, 
and they have triumphed in this generation though 
defeated in the last. Even at this time, before a 
generous, sentimental sympathy for their co-reli- 
gionists had taken deep hold upon the masses of 
the Russian people, her motives may well bear com- 
parison with those of England. No one pretends 
that these motives were wholly devoid of self- 
interest ; but what gives Russia the moral ascend- 
ancy over England in this long contest, is the fate 
which has made her material interests lie on the 
side of right and justice, while those of England — 



The Easter 71 Question. 279 



as Englishmen see fit to interpret them — are on the 
side of oppression and wrong. It was in the inter- 
est of developing the resources of his country that 
Peter strove to push the Turks away from the 
northern shore of the Black Sea and plant his own 
people there ; it was doubtless an imperial ambition 
which prompted all of Catherine's plans for south- 
ern conquest ; it was probably for the benefit of 
the material interests of his country that Nicholas 
strove to arrange with England for the funeral of 
the Turk. But while Russia was all this time 
w r aging war for material benefits — as all strong 
nations have ever done — she was at the same time 
conferring a benefit on the whole Christian world 
by gradually breaking down a government under 
which no Christian could live in safety or comfort, 
and successively emancipating one race after 
another from the insufferable Turkish rule. It was 
by the aid of Russia that Wallachia, Moldavia, 
Servia, and Greece were all in turn set on their feet, 
and allowed to work out their own salvation, and 
achieve such measure of prosperity and happiness 
for themselves as their capabilities would permit. 

England, on the other hand, has been the per- 
petual objecter and obstructionist throughout the 
whole of this natural development of histoiy, which, 
however, she has not succeeded in greatly retarding, 
though her action has engendered many hatreds 



280 



Army Life in Russia. 



and prolonged much misery. And to justify her in 
this course, she has only the argument that by sus- 
taining Turkey she puts a barrier to Russian am- 
bition. She has never ventured to openly defend 
the Turkish system of government. Candid and un- 
candid Englishmen of all parties have time and 
again condemned the extortion, the cruelty, the in- 
justice, and the utter barbarity of the Turkish rule, 
but they have always maintained, in the same 
breath, that still greater evils would follow were 
Turkey supplanted by Russia ; for in that case 
English trade and commerce would suffer on the one 
hand, while, on the other, Russia would become so 
strong that the liberties of Europe would be en- 
dangered ! The insufficiency of England's policy 
to accomplish its purpose of maintaining intact the 
Turkish Empire is no less remarkable than its in- 
justice. When Nicholas proposed to come to terms 
about this long-standing nuisance of the Turk, it 
might have been expected that England — if she 
deemed his proposition to be dictated by selfish in- 
terest and a desire for aggrandizement — would have 
advanced some positive solution of her own, which 
had the elements of stability about it, but would 
not redound to the advantage of Russia; and then, 
if necessary, have fought for it, and established it. 
But she proposed nothing of the kind ; she only de- 
manded that the shaky, tottering status quo should 



The Eastern Question. 



281 



be maintained. If any one believed, in 1853, that 
there were any elements of vitality in the Ottoman 
Empire, that any justice was to be found in its gov- 
ernment of the Christians, that any faith was to be 
placed in its promises of reform, surely the events 
of the succeeding twenty-five years must have been 
enough to undeceive him. Nobody really did be- 
lieve it then, any more than now; but in 1878, as in 
1856, England is still insisting on the maintenance 
of the status quo (what is left of it), still accepting 
Turkish promises, still refusing to face the inevi- 
table and frame some plan for the regeneration of 
the East which shall insure justice to the governed, 
protect her own interests, and prevent those of 
Russia from having undue prominence. Before this 
great problem, English statesmanship has seemed to 
be powerless ; no one has ever proposed any scheme 
which could secure the support of even a respect- 
able minority of his countrymen. As Russia ad- 
vances and Turkey totters, England puts another 
prop under her — loans her more money, fights her 
battles, secretly aids her, gives her advice, and not 
infrequently illusory promises ; but the only plan 
she has heretofore had, with which to oppose 
Russia, is Turkey as it is. With every generation, 
in spite of England's aid, this Turkey becomes less : 
in 1829, it was Greece and the Danubian principali- 
ties that dropped off; in 1878, it was Bulgaria ; in 



282 



Army Life in Russia. 



another generation it will be Roumelia and Con- 
stantinople itself. 

If the English policy remains unchanged, the sick 
man, as Nicholas warned them, will die on their 
hands while they are still making plans for his " in- 
tegrity and independence." The most that can be 
said of England's policy in the East, is that it has 
been an obstinate effort to stave off the inevitable, 
and to throw the solution of a great problem ever 
upon the shoulders of the next succeeding genera- 
tion. 

England vastly underestimated the pride of her 
antagonist if she imagined that she would remain 
quiet under such a humiliating treaty more than 
long enough to gather strength to destroy it. Eng- 
land, therefore, took the responsibility of standing 
ready to defend her treaty at all times by force of 
arms — as Germany stands ready to defend the set- 
tlement she made in 1870 — or else she would in- 
evitably be obliged to withdraw from the position 
she had assumed. It has never been possible to 
bring the majority of Englishmen up to the point of 
making war in defense of the Treaty of Paris, and 
England has therefore had perforce to accept the 
alternative of allowing the treaty and its principles 
to be destroyed. 

The treaty was but four years old when, in the 
spring of i860, Prince Gortschakoff, after consulta- 



The Eastern Question. 



283 



tion with the ambassadors in St. Petersburg, ad- 
dressed a circular note to the signatory Powers, in 
which he called attention to the reports of Russian 
consuls in Turkey, showing that the grossest mis- 
government and injustice were practised by the 
local governors in Bosnia, Herzegovnia, and Bul- 
garia ; far from the Treaty of Paris being carried out 
by putting into effect the promises of the Hatti- 
Hnmayoum, these reports showed that the con- 
dition of the subject races in those provinces was 
becoming worse and worse. The circular, therefore, 
invited the Great Powers to take the matter into 
serious consideration, to verify the reports of the 
Russian consuls, and to exercise the powers of 
mediation provided for in the treaty in case any of 
its provisions should be disregarded. The circular 
went on to say that Europe having decided that 
the maintenance of the Ottoman Empire was neces- 
sary for its tranquillity, it was of the highest import- 
ance to the Porte, no less than to Europe, that a 
" real, serious, and durable amelioration " of the con- 
dition of the Christians should be effected. 

The reports of the Russian consuls were fully 
verified by those of England and the other Powers, 
but no further steps were taken under this call, for, 
before the year was ended, still more serious dis- 
turbances broke out in Syria. Something over fifteen 
thousand people having been massacred, the Great 



284 



Army Life in Russia. 



Powers for once agreed to take the matter firmly in 
hand, and dispatched an English and a French com- 
missioner, backed with a French land force and an 
English fleet, to restore order. The Pasha who was 
the ringleader in the massacres was hanged, a con- 
stitution was drawn up by Lord Dufferin for the 
government of the Lebanon, and the Porte, upon 
objecting to it on the ground of its independence 
being encroached upon, was simply informed that 
the French troops would remain in Syria until it 
was accepted. This small show of force and of 
united action was all that was needed to compel the 
Porte to submit. The constitution was adopted, the 
French troops remained long enough for it to get 
in working order, and there has been tranquillity in 
Syria ever since. 

Six years later occurred another of the chronic 
insurrections against the insufferable tyranny of the 
Ottoman government. This time it was in Crete. 
The Powers immediately took note of it — Austria 
proposing that the Treaty of Paris should be revised, 
and the Christian populations be taken under the 
united protection of Europe, and endowed with a 
certain measure of local self-government ; France 
seconded this, and proposed that Crete should be 
ceded to Greece ; Russia was of the same opinion, 
and advised that the only escape from the series of 
makeshifts which had been so long and ineffectually 



The Eastern Question. 



285 



tried, was in " the gradual development of autono- 
mous states " out of the subject races of Turkey. 
All the Great Powers were united in the advisability 
of such joint action as had been taken in Syria, ex- 
cepting only England. She refused to take part in 
any such plan, and in its place succeeded in impos- 
ing on the Cretans a new constitution, and a new 
series of promises, devised by the Turks. This has 
proved as ineffectual as might have been anticipated, 
and under it the Cretans have continued in a more 
or less chronic state of revolt to this day. 

In 1870 two of the Powers that had forced the 
Treaty of Paris upon Russia were engaged in a 
great war. Russia then did what any other great 
nation would do which had been similarly humili- 
ated and felt herself strong enough to resent it : 
she took advantage of the condition of affairs to 
nullify the most humiliating feature of the treaty. 
In a circular-note dated October 31, 1870, Prince 
Gortschakoff informed the Powers that Russia would 
no longer consider herself bound by that article of 
the treaty which " neutralized " the Black Sea. 
England, as her Prime Minister announced in Parli- 
ment, found herself without an ally to support this 
article by force. She was therefore compelled to 
yield, and on March 13, 1871, a convention was 
signed at London which provided that the article 
(No. xiv.) relating to the Black Sea " is abrogated." 



286 



Army Life in Russia. 



The most essential of the safeguards provided by 
the Treaty of Paris against Russian ambition, and 
the most humiliating of all the insults contained 
in that treaty, were thus formally renounced and 
withdrawn by their authors just fifteen years after 
they had been formulated. 

Four years later, in 1875, the insurrections broke 
out in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and ushered in the 
series of events which brought about the late war 
and all its attendant consequences. 

When these disturbances broke out, Austria, as 
being the nation most nearly interested, took the 
lead in proposing to the Great Powers to initiate 
certain steps which would lead to a pacification of 
the locality, substantially on the same principle as 
that adopted in the Lebanon in 1861. The proposals 
were drawn up in what is known as the " Andrassy 
note," which was addressed to the various Powers 
on December 30, 1875. 

The terms of this document are well known ; they 
were summarized as follows : 

" 1. Complete liberty of worship. 

" 2. Reform in the system of taxation. 

" 3. Sale of waste lands to needy inhabitants. 

" 4. Mixed commissions in Bosnia and Herze- 
govina to supervise the reforms. 

" 5. Granting of funds for works of public utility." 

All the Great Powers gave their assent to this 



The Eastern Question. 



287 



note in principle, and all of them except England 
showed that they meant what they said by propos- 
ing to have the Porte enter into a definite and ex- 
plicit agreement to carry out the remedies which 
they suggested. But Lord Derby, then Secretary 
for Foreign Affairs, wrote a long dispatch to the 
English ambassador, criticising and condemning 
every proposition in the note, and then authorizing 
the ambassador to give " a general support to 
Count Andrassy's proposals, but confine himself 
to oral communications." 

Under these circumstances, the Porte accepted 
the note with great pleasure, promised to follow the 
advice it contained, and issued the customary proc- 
lamation. It thanked England with considerable 
effusiveness for its kindness, and then let the whole 
matter drop at once. But the other Powers were by 
no means satisfied to have their purpose so complete- 
ly frustrated. The insurrection continued in Bosnia, 
and early in May the Consuls of France and Ger- 
many were murdered in Salonica. A few days later 
the Chancellors of the three empires met in Ber- 
lin, and after exchanging their ideas, they drafted 
a second document known as the Berlin Memoran- 
dum. This recited that such outrages as those at Sa- 
lonica could only be prevented by sending men-of- 
war to the threatened localities, and providing their 
commanding officers with identical instructions as 



288 



Army Life in Russia. 



to the manner in which they should use their force. 
But this would only be a temporary expedient, 
unless the cause of all these agitations should be re- 
moved by the prompt pacification of Bosnia and 
Herzegovnia. By accepting the Andrassy note, 
the Porte had incurred an obligation to Europe to 
carry out its provisions ; this note, however, had 
failed to accomplish any purpose, because the insur- 
gents refused to trust the unendorsed promises of 
the Porte, and the Porte had failed to carry its pro- 
visions into effect. The Powers should therefore 
come to an agreement as to the guaranties neces- 
sary to insure the fulfillment of the promises made 
by the Porte to Europe. The first essential should 
be an armistice of two months ; during this time', 
negotiations could be conducted between the Porte 
and the Bosnian delegates, on the basis of furnish- 
ing the refugees with materials for rebuilding their 
houses, under the supervision of a mixed commis- 
sion ; the Turkish troops to be concentrated at a 
few specified points ; the Christians as well as the 
Mussulmans to retain their arms, and the foreign 
consuls to " watch over the application of the re- 
forms in general, and the steps relative to repatria- 
tion in particular." If, with the aid of the Great Pow- 
ers, a definite agreement could be made between the 
Porte and the insurgents on this basis, and put im- 
mediately into effect, a great step would be made 



The Eastern Question. 



289 



toward pacification. But if these efforts should 
fail to accomplish their purpose, then it would be 
necessary for the Powers to " supplement their dip- 
lomatic action by the sanction of an agreement, 
looking to such efficacious measures as might appear 
to be demanded in the interest of a general peace." 
In other words, if advice failed, then more forcible 
measures must be employed, as they had been in 1 860. 

This memorandum certainly contained a positive 
plan of action, which would, for the time being, 
have put an end to the insurrection, and have pre- 
vented the outbreak of a war, which otherwise 
seemed inevitable, and in which Turkey was surely 
doomed to suffer, unless she found strong allies. 
France and Italy hastened to agree to it, but, to the 
surprise and regret of every one, England positively 
refused to assent to it in any manner whatever. What 
were her motives, is a mere matter of speculation, 
for her cabinet declined to explain them further 
than to denounce every article of the memorandum 
as being either an infringement on Turkish inde- 
pendence, or a sacrifice which it was unable to bear. 
Austria, Germany, France, and Italy all in turn 
pressed England to accept the memorandum, or to 
suggest any modifications she might desire in its 
language. She declined to do either. They then 
asked Lord Derby if he had any proposition of his 
own to make, and he replied none. " Her Majesty's 
13 



290 



Army Life in Russia. 



Government deprecated the diplomatic action of 
the other Powers in the affairs of the Ottoman Em- 
pire." Russia then asked what was the drift of 
England's policy ; what were her ideas in the mat- 
ter ? To which Lord Derby replied, that he thought 
nothing remained but to let the struggle continue 
until success should declare itself on one side or the 
other. In other words, in British phrase, form a 
ring and let 'em fight it out with the usual result of 
indiscriminate slaughter and pillage which ever fol- 
lows a case of fighting out an insurrection in Tur- 
key. But the other five Powers were really desirous 
to bring about some permanent solution of the 
matter. They determined to leave England alone, 
and to present their views to the Porte without her 
concurrence. Their representatives, therefore, met 
at the German Embassy in Constantinople on the 
afternoon of May 29, 1876, and drafted a form of 
communication which contained the terms of the 
Berlin memorandum, and which, in identically the 
same language, was to be presented by each of them 
to the Porte on the following morning. During 
that very night, however, the Sultan was deposed ; 
in the morning there was a new Sultan, and no 
diplomatic intercourse could be carried on until he 
had been recognized, and other formalities gone 
through with. The new Sultan only remained on 
the throne about three months, but before he was 



The Eastern Question. 



291 



fairly installed the massacres had occurred in Bul- 
garia, and Servia had declared war ; the problem 
had attained far greater proportions than the mere 
question of the Bosnian refugees, and the Berlin 
memorandum was entirely inadequate to meet it. 
So it was never presented to the Porte. 

It is quite needless to recount the savage manner 
in which the feeble insurrection in Bulgaria was 
put down by the Bashi-Bazouks under Chefket 
Pasha. The horrible tale of the human heads piled 
up among the smoldering ruins of Batak is too 
fresh to have been forgotten by even the most 
casual reader. Its political bearing is stated with 
remarkable accuracy by Sir Henry Elliot in his well- 
known letter, in which he says " that the interests of 
England are deeply engaged in preventing a dis- 
ruption of the Turkish Empire, is a conviction 
which I share in common with the most eminent 
statesmen who have directed our foreign policy, 
but which appears now to be abandoned by shallow 
politicians or persons who have allowed their feel- 
ings of revolted humanity to make them forget the 
capital interests involved in the question. 

"We may and must feel indignant at the needless 
and monstrous severity with which the Bulgarian 
insurrection was put down ; but the necessity which 
exists for England to prevent changes from occur- 
ring here which would be most detrimental to our- 



292 



Army Life in Russia. 



selves, is not affected by the question whether it 
was ten thousand or twenty thousand persons who 
perished in its suppression. 

" We have been upholding what we know to be a 
semi-civilized nation, liable under certain circum- 
stances to be carried into fearful excesses ; but the 
fact of this having just now been strikingly brought 
home to us all, cannot be a sufficient reason for 
abandoning a policy which is the only one that can 
be followed with due regard to our interests." 

These words may seem cruel and cold-blooded ; 
but if the premises are granted — that English inter- 
ests demand the maintenance of the Turkish Em- 
pire — their logical sequence cannot be refuted. It 
is true that many people in England still hugged 
the delusion that misrule, extortion, and massacre 
were not the necessary accompaniments of the Turk's 
rule ; but they cherished this delusion in the very 
face of all the facts of Turkish history. * In 1825 
the massacres in Greece had been no less revolting 
and extensive than those in Bulgaria in 1876. In 
i860 it had been the same in Syria. The whole 
course of Turkish history, from the time when 
Bajazet had all the prisoners taken at Nicopolis in 
1396 massacred before his eyes, has been full of just 
such incidents ; but in the last fifty years they have 
been so notorious and well authenticated that there 
has been no excuse for not knowing and believing 



The Eastern Question. 



293 



them. Yet England, having all these facts before 
her, has, ever since the battle of Navarino, been 
engaged in maintaining and assuring the integrity 
of that very government under which alone they 
are possible, and all this time has been accepting 
promise after promise of reform in the treatment of 
the Christians, not one of which has been kept. 

On the other hand, Sir Henry Elliot — and he 
represents a large class in England, though none of 
them have been so candid or so incautious as to 
express their views so clearly as himself — has no 
delusions about the nature of Turkish government ; 
he knows it thoroughly, and fully appreciates its 
wickedness, but he considers it necessary to uphold 
that government in spite of its sins ; he weighs the 
interests of British trade against the lives of the 
Christian subjects of the Porte, and declares the 
former to have the greater value. His policy is 
harsh ; compared with it, the much-talked-of rule of 
" blood and iron " is mildness itself ; but it is con- 
sistent, and he rightly says that if any questions of 
humanity are to become mingled with it, it at once 
loses all its force, and becomes the mere makeshift 
of shallow politicians. 

But the English public was by no means so cool- 
headed and consistent as Sir Henry. A storm of 
indignant wrath went from one end of England to 
the other, crying out that such damnable outrages 



2 9 4 



Army Life in Russia. 



should cease, with the destruction of the govern- 
ment which permitted them if no other means 
were efficacious. The cabinet were powerless before 
this storm. Though England was the author of the 
treaty which upheld this atrocious government, yet 
the indignation was none the less great. The pol- 
icy of active support, which there is good ground 
for believing the head of the cabinet desired to 
follow, and the policy of do nothing but let them 
fight it out, which the Foreign Secretary openly ad- 
vocated, were both paralyzed. It was necessary to 
do something, and that shortly. 

Nor was England the only country which was in- 
dignant on the subject. In Russia the whole mass of 
the people, from the highest to the lowest grades, 
were stirred to the very depths of their souls by the 
murder of their fellow-Slavs and co-religionists. 
They cried out for vengeance at once ; but as their 
Tsar insisted on trying all the peaceful methods be- 
fore resorting to war, they could do nothing to 
show their sympathy but send volunteers to. join 
the Servians, who had just declared war against the 
Porte, in behalf of their Bulgarian fellow-subjects. 
Other nations were only less indignant, but feeling 
less immediate interest in the subject than Russia 
and England, they limited themselves to seconding 
the proposals of those countries. Austria, indeed, 
which had taken the lead in all the diplomatic steps 



The Eastern Question. 295 



of the past year, now had her hand stayed by the 
Magyar portion of her population, and was obliged 
to remain in the background. But there was prac- 
tical unanimity among all the great nations, and a 
universal desire that measures should be taken 
which would afford an effective guaranty for good 
government, or at least common justice, in Turkey. 

A great and unique opportunity was then offered 
to England to depart from her past policy, which 
had certainly failed to accomplish its purpose, and 
to enter upon a new one which should have a more 
substantial basis than propping up the decayed 
members of an almost lifeless state. The enormity 
and authenticity of the crimes which had just been 
committed were ample warrant for any change" of 
policy, or the abrogation of any treaty. Had a 
Liberal administration been in power, it is probable 
that it would have seized this opportunity to put 
into practical operation that principle of local self- 
government and the extension of the area of 
autonomous states which was formulated at the 
Conference a few months later. But there was one 
cardinal measure which must be employed, or else 
all steps would be useless and end in nothing. 
That measure was the use of force. All Turkish 
history shows that it is by the question of force 
alone that the Turks gauge the intentions of the 
people with whom they deal. Without force to 



296 



Army Life in Russia. 



make good their wishes, the Turks look upon 
treaties, promises, edicts, and diplomatic corre- 
spondence, as a mere jeu d'esprit, in which they 
have always been masters, very engaging for the 
moment, but having no relation to practical affairs. 
The advice which Europe was to give to Turkey 
must be accompanied with a concerted show of 
force, ready to be freely used if necessary, and 
sufficiently great to convince the Turks that the 
advice was seriously meant ; otherwise the Turks 
would pay no more attention to it than to make 
polite answers, and issue fresh proclamations. 

This statement is warranted by the history of the 
achievement of Greek independence, which the 
Turks laughed at in 1827, but acknowledged after 
the war of 1829, by the readiness with which they 
accepted the interference in the affairs of Syria in 
1 861, which was supported by armed power, and by 
their total disregard of the provisions of the Haiti- 
Humayoum, whose execution rested on their 
promise alone. It is also warranted by human 
nature itself, for no government, whether good or 
bad, yields to advice concerning its own internal af- 
fairs, unless compelled to do so by force. 

But at this critical juncture England did not 
have a Liberal administration, but one led by a 
statesman whose imperial ambitions were far more 
vast than those of Catherine, and who never has 



The Eastern Question. 297 

been troubled by scruples of humanity, or any other 
scruples, in the employment of means to gain his 
end. This cabinet invited the other Powers to 
meet in a conference at Constantinople, believing 
that this was the surest method to defeat the wishes 
of Russia, who was anxious to march a force into 
Bulgaria to restore and maintain order; but at the 
same time it adopted a course which was sure to 
prevent the deliberations of this conference from 
having any practical result ; that is, it opposed 
most strenuously that very idea of the use of force 
or a show of force which alone could give any effect 
to the advice of the conference. Throughout the 
whole series of Lord Derby's dispatches during 
1876 and 1877, there ran this double idea: inform 
the Turks that England will not come to their aid 
if attacked, but inform them also at the same time, 
that England will not sanction any coercive meas- 
ures against them. 

The Turks expressed their thanks with a due 
sense of gratitude, and thenceforth knew how to 
shape their course with that diplomatic address in 
which they have few equals. 

The conference met at Constantinople on the 
nth of December; the Turks were not invited to 
be present until the other Powers had agreed upon 
what they had to offer. The presiding officer an- 
nounced the object of the conference to be, to de- 
13* 



298 



Army Life in Russia. 



termine first the conditions of peace between Tur- 
key and Servia and Montenegro, and second, " the 
nature and extent of the administrative systems 
which should be applied to Bosnia, Herzegovnia, 
and Bulgaria, and the guaranties necessary to in- 
sure their effectual execution." 

Lord Salisbury and General Ignatief took the 
lead in the deliberations, and they soon agreed 
upon the terms of peace, and the extent of the 
provinces to be formed within which the new form 
of local self-government, the nature of which was 
given in considerable detail, was to be applied. Its 
most essential provisions were Christian governors, 
nominated for five years with the approval of 
foreign Powers, an international commission to 
supervise the introduction of the new system, and a 
small force of some disinterested Power, such as 
Belgium, to act as escort to the commission, and 
give effect to its opinion. 

The representatives of the foreign Powers hav- 
ing agreed upon the proposals they would make to 
the Porte, the Turkish representatives were invited 
to be present, and the first full meeting of the 
Conference was held on the 23d of December un- 
der the presidency of the Turkish plenipotentiary. 
The session was short, and toward its close occurred 
an incident which is thus recorded in the minutes 
of the proceedings : 



The Eastern Question. 



299 



"At this moment salvoes of artillery are heard. 
The President of the Conference states that these 
salvoes announce the promulgation of the Otto- 
man Constitution. ' A great act,' he says, ' which 
is at this moment being accomplished, has just 
changed a form of government which had lasted 
six hundred years. The Constitution with which 
his Majesty the Sultan has endowed his empire, is 
promulgated. It inaugurates a new era for the 
happiness and prosperity of his people.' " 

One cannot but admire the dexterity of this 
stroke, and the infinite resource of the Turks. It 
might have been supposed that in forty years they 
had exhausted their stock of proclamations and 
edicts, which contained promises and schemes of 
government enough to make Turkey the most pros- 
perous and happy country in the world — had they 
been really carried out. Every conceivable prin- 
ciple of justice had in succession been announced 
in these various Hatts and Firmans, and it was 
difficult to see how anything new of that descrip- 
tion could be offered. But the Turks were equal to 
the emergency. Knowing that they had no hope 
of influencing any of the nations except England, 
they devised a new proclamation, appealing pecu- 
liarly to her sensibilities as the author of representa- 
tive government. Midhat Pasha had framed a 
whole Constitution of no less than one hundred and 



300 



Army Life in Russia, 



nineteen articles, the essential feature of which was 
a Parliament, consisting of a Senate whose members 
were appointed by the Sultan, and a House of 
Deputies whose members were to be elected by 
the people in secret ballot, the manner of the 
election to be determined by a subsequent special 
law. 

The card was well played ; though it had but lit- 
tle effect on the Conference, it took very well in 
England, where certain Tory papers were soon 
speaking of Turkey as that enlightened country 
which was endowed with representative government, 
and which was so far in advance in civilization of 
Russia, which was ruled by an Asiatic and barbar- 
ous despotism ! So easy is it to confuse matters if 
only the names of things are used, and not the acts 
which are done in those names. 

The history of this Constitution is soon told. Its 
author, Midhat Pasha, remained in power a little 
over a year, and was then overthrown and banished 
from his country as being its greatest enemy. The 
Parliament held two sessions, one beginning in 
March, and the other in December, 1877. It exer- 
cised its privilege of criticism with no little free- 
dom, succeeded in overturning several ministries, 
alarmed the Sultan at one time so greatly as to 
cause him to cross into Asia, and was finally dis- 
solved in February, 1878; several of the deputies 



The Eastern Question. 



301 



being ordered to leave Constantinople forthwith, but 
forbidden to return to their own homes. Since 
that time neither the Parliament nor the Constitu- 
tion has been heard of. 

When the Turkish plenipotentiaries had carefully 
read the propositions which the Conference sub- 
mitted to them, they replied in the next meeting 
that some of them, such as the appointment of the 
Governors by foreign advice, positively could not 
be accepted ; but that the whole scheme was un- 
necessary, for the Sultan had now, by his own voli- 
tion, granted a Constitution which secured the wel- 
fare of all his subjects in the most complete manner. 
But the Conference was not to be so easily entrap- 
ped as had been that of 1856, and Lord Salisbury 
remarked that it had not met to take cognizance 
of Turkish promises, but to frame some positive 
scheme of relief for the disturbed provinces. Foiled 
in their intentions to evade the whole subject by 
means of their new Constitution, the Turks now 
submitted a counter-project, and for the next three 
weeks the discussion went on in the hope of recon- 
ciling the two schemes. The foreign representa- 
tives constantly receded from one after another of 
their demands, until only the outline of them re- 
mained ; but this outline contained two very essen- 
tial features, viz., that the Governors should be 
chosen with the consent of the other Powers, and 



302 



Army Life in Russia. 



that an International Commission should supervise 
the execution of the reforms. To both of these 
propositions the Turks positively refused to accede, 
on the ground that they were fundamentally op- 
posed to that independence of the Ottoman Empire 
which was guaranteed by treaty, and which the 
English instructions had named as the first and 
most essential of the bases for the deliberations of 
the Conference. 

Having warned the Turks that the responsibility 
of their acts must rest on their own heads, the Con- 
ference broke up on the 20th of January, 1877, and 
its members as well as the regular ambassadors quit- 
ted Constantinople without delay. 

It had all come to naught from just one cause — the 
refusal of England to join the other Powers in en- 
forcing their demands by arms, or at least by a 
well-supported threat of war. 

The Russian plenipotentiary had been instructed 
to propose to the Conference that the most effectual 
guaranties for the execution of the reforms would 
be found in the occupation of Bosnia by an Austrian 
force, of Bulgaria by a Russian force, and of the 
Bosphorus by the combined fleets of the six Powers; 
or in the naval demonstration alone, if the land oc- 
cupation was objected to. The land occupation 
found no advocates, but the naval demonstration 
was acceptable to all the Powers except England. 



The Eastern Question. 



303 



But on this point Lord Derby's instructions were 
most explicit that " Her Majesty's government 
would not be prepared to employ measures of ac- 
tive coercion to extort the consent of Turkey to 
the proposals which had been drawn up at Con- 
stantinople." 

With such intentions, it is difficult to understand 
what it was hoped to gain by the Conference. Any 
proposals of effective reform, coming from the re- 
presentatives of other Powers assembled in their 
own capital, must necessarily be most distasteful to 
the Turks. To expect that they would accede to 
them for the mere asking, was to suppose them 
possessed of an angelic spirit of submission which no 
people have ever shown — least of all, a warlike 
race like the Turks. No nation ever has or ever 
will accept such outside interference except upon 
compulsion. 

But Russia had already announced that she did 
not consider the mere offering of advice a satis- 
factory solution of the present condition of affairs. 
If the Porte declined to accept advice, then she was 
determined to bring about an amelioration of the 
fate of the Christians by force of arms, alone if 
need be, or in conjunction with other Powers if they 
desired to assist. In the previous month of Novem- 
ber, the Tsar had announced his purpose to exhaust 
all the peaceful methods of diplomacy and concert- 



304 



Army Life in Russia. 



ed action, but to act alone and by war if these 
should fail ; and to show that he meant what he 
said, he had mobilized a considerable portion of his 
army. 

The Conference having ended in nothing, he made 
one last appeal. He sent General Ignatief to the 
various Courts of Europe to obtain their views of 
what further could be done, in view of the failure 
of the Conference ; and finally, at London, on the 
31st of March, there was signed a protocol, in which 
the Powers proposed to Turkey to execute the re- 
forms in its own manner ; but they would watch 
their progress by means of their representatives in 
Constantinople, and if they were not carried out, 
they would " consider such a state of affairs incom- 
patible with their interests and those of Europe in 
general." In that case, they reserved to themselves 
to consider what means would be necessary to cause 
them to be carried out. The Porte made its answer 
on April 10th, declining, without reserve, to give its 
assent to the principles contained in the protocol, 
and insisting that the treaty of Paris explicitly de- 
nied to the Powers the right to interfere collectively 
or separately in the relations between the Sultan 
and his subjects. 

There was nothing more to be done. All the 
Great Powers had insisted most urgently that the 
condition and government of the subject Christians 



The Eastern Question. 



305 



must be radically changed ; only one of them was 
disposed to make its wishes effective, but this one 
did not hesitate in its task. On the 24th of April, 
1877, the Tsar announced that all the resources 
of diplomacy had been exhausted, and that the 
Porte absolutely refused to give any effective gua- 
ranties for those reforms to which it was solemnly 
bound by previous engagements, and by which alone 
the Christians in Turkey could be protected from 
the arbitrary measures of local authorities. The 
moment had therefore come for him to act inde- 
pendently, and impose his will on the Turks by 
force, and his armies had been ordered to cross the 
Turkish frontier. 

Throughout the whole of the diplomatic campaign 
which had been carried on during the two years 
preceding the war, no mention had been made of 
anything but the affairs of Turkey ; it was on its 
surface a question of providing for good govern- 
ment of the Christian subjects of the Sultan. But 
underlying all this was another great question — one 
of those jealousies between the various nations of 
the Christian religion which, as I have previously 
said, have complicated the later development of the 
Eastern, question. This was the mutual rivalry of 
Russia and England arising from their Asiatic 
possessions. 

The growth of the Indian possessions of the 



306 



Army Life in Russia. 



British Crown is not only one of the most re- 
markable features of modern times, but it is one 
which has no rival in all history. Nothing in the 
history of Rome ever compared with it in vastness. 
From a few trading stations conquered by the 
" Governor and company of merchants of London 
trading to the East Indies," which was chartered 
by Elizabeth in 1600, it has grown to be an empire 
of well-nigh two hundred millions of souls, acknowl- 
edging allegiance to the British Crown, and pouring 
into the treasury of British India the sum of 
three hundred million dollars annually. And not 
only for itself is it valuable, but because it repre- 
sents in a pre-eminent degree that trade and com- 
merce which are the foundation of the present 
greatness and prosperity of England. Deprived of 
her colonies and her commerce, England would at 
once sink to the level of the smaller states of Eu- 
rope, following in the wake of Holland and Venice 
and Spain, who in their days have been great and 
powerful, but who have declined with the loss of 
their foreign possessions and the commerce which 
they sustained. Fifteen of the thirty-three millions 
of people in the British isles to-day subsist on food 
brought from abroad, and probably twenty-five mil- 
lions derive their livelihood from the various branch- 
es of her foreign trade. The variety and extent of 
her wealth and power are vast— Lord Beaconsfield 



The Eastern Question. 



307 



truly says that history may be searched in vain for 
their like — but they rest on commercial credit, and 
not on the resources of the British isles ; and from 
the moment that the commerce on which this credit 
is based receives a fatal blow, the days of England's 
greatness are past. No single event could strike so 
serious a blow as the loss of India. Of all the great 
possessions — it is hardly a colony — it is the most 
alien to the British race, and it is held as a mere 
money-making investment. Its people are ground 
with extortionate taxation, are allowed no voice in 
their own affairs, are treated with studied scorn, are 
made to pay for gigantic systems of public works 
for which their simple wants have no necessity, but 
which are of enormous advantage to their rulers in 
developing the wealth of the country for their own 
profit. It is held as a market in which to buy cheap 
and sell dear, and as a place in which younger sons 
and needy relations can amass fortunes to be subse- 
quently enjoyed in England. Its loss would result 
in a financial crisis which would shake the whole 
fabric of England's commercial prosperity, and deal 
a blow at her political prestige from which she could 
hardly recover. 

It is no wonder, then, that everything pertaining 
to India is guarded by England with the most jeal- 
ous care. Moreover, her rule is detested from one 
end of the peninsula to the other, and would be 



3 o8 



Army Life in Russia. 



thrown off at the first opportunity. This uncertain- 
ty of tenure makes her see many imaginary dangers, 
at which she would only laugh were she sure of the 
loyal support of the native populations. 

The greatest of these imaginary dangers is the 
idea that Russia covets the possession of India for 
herself. This theory has arisen entirely within the 
last twenty-five years. The vast acquisitions of ter- 
ritory made by Russia since Peter the Great's time, 
and the suspicion (probably unfounded) that the 
mutiny of 1857 was m P art due to Russian in- 
trigue, have made Englishmen, ever nervous for the 
security of their distant and discontented Eastern 
possessions, imagine that Russia would not stop 
until her Asiatic territory reached the Indian Ocean. 

There is every reason to believe that Russia has 
no such ambitions. Her frontier has gradually ad- 
vanced — rapidly, indeed, in the last fifteen years — 
across the deserts beyond the Caspian and Aral seas, 
but only in obedience to that law of necessity arising 
from the impossibility of maintaining any frontier 
with nomadic and semi-civilized people, with which 
our Indian experience on the plains has made us per- 
fectly familiar. So soon as the Russian and British 
frontiers in Asia are contiguous, this necessity will 
cease ; and if the two nations will come to terms of 
friendship, Russia will have no more designs on India 
than she has on Germany or Austria. But although 



The Eastern Question. 



309 



Russia does not covet the possession of India, yet if 
England continues to pursue her with the same re- 
lentless hatred that she has shown in the past fifty 
years, then, undoubtedly, Russia, in accordance with 
that law of self-defense which allows any nation to 
strike its adversary in its weakest point, will strike 
England in India; not by attempting to take the 
country 7 for itself, but by stirring up an insurrection 
which shall exterminate the English residents and 
the English power. Thus we may yet see the 
Eastern question settled on the banks of the Indus. 

This I believe to be the whole of Russia's inten- 
tions on India — to use it as a leverage in case Eng- 
land should again attack her in defense of the intol- 
erable Turkish misgovernment. It was on this prin- 
ciple that, when war with England seemed inevitable 
in the spring of 1878, Russia took steps to prepare a 
way for her troops across Afghanistan. 

It was this anxiety about India that made Eng- 
land see a hidden purpose in every step that Russia 
took in regard to Turkey throughout the whole of 
the negotiations of 1875, '76, and '77, and made her 
refuse to believe that Russia was guided by any 
disinterested feeling for the oppressed Christians. 
At this critical period England was peculiarly sensi- 
tive on the subject, for she had then a Prime Min- 
ister of a truly oriental imagination, of boundless 
ambition, and intensely devoted to the idea of de- 



Army Life in Russia. 



veloping closer relations between England and her 
foreign possessions. He made the Queen Empress 
of India ; he sent the Prince of Wales to see the 
country ; he brought Indian troops into Europe. 
In his mind, everything else was of secondary im- 
portance to the necessity of strengthening the 
security of these possessions, and any means were 
justifiable to attain this end. He scoffed at the 
misery of the Christians in Bosnia and Bulgaria, and 
thwarted every proposition that might lead to their 
benefit, simply because they could not be really 
benefited except at the expense of the Turkish 
power ; and the maintenance of the Turkish power 
was, in his opinion, essential to the security of India. 

When, therefore, the last resources of diplomacy 
had been exhausted, and war followed, his cabinet 
promptly declared that Russia had deliberately vio- 
lated the Treaty of Paris in attacking the integrity 
of the Ottoman Empire, but that England would 
remain neutral so long as British interests were not 
attacked. Being pressed for a definition of British 
interests, the cabinet enumerated specifically four 
propositions, a violation of any one of which would 
render it impossible for England to remain neutral. 
These were as follows : 

First. The navigation of the Suez Canal must not 
be blockaded or interfered with. 

Second. Egypt must not be attacked or occupied. 



The Eastern Question. 



Third. Constantinople must not pass into any 
other hands than those of its present possessors. 

Fourth. The existing arrangements concerning 
the navigation of the Bosphorus and the Darda- 
nelles must not be changed. 

To the first two propositions Russia gave her un- 
qualified assent. To the third she replied that the 
course of the war could not be foretold, but Russia 
had no intention or desire to acquire Constantinople 
permanently. Concerning the fourth proposition, 
Russia replied that she always desired to have the 
navigation of the Straits governed by international 
agreement. In general, the British interests, as 
above defined, would be respected by Russia so 
long as England remained neutral. . 

These promises were rigidly kept. 

To make these assurances still more complete, 
Prince Gortschakoff sent a dispatch in June an- 
nouncing the Emperor's intentions concerning the 
war, and in August the Emperor requested Colonel 
Wellesley, the British military attache at his head- 
quarters, who had been summoned home on public 
business, to convey to the British cabinet a memo- 
randum in which he stated, with the utmost frank- 
ness, for what he was waging war, and how he 
should conclude it. He should demand for himself 
the retrocession of the piece of Bessarabia taken 
away by the Treaty of Paris, and a small territory 



312 



Army Life in Russia. 



in Asia, but nothing more. If the Turks sued for 
peace without forcing him to cross the Balkans, the 
limits of the new Bulgaria would be fixed by those 
mountains; if he was forced to cross them, these 
limits would extend much further to the south. 
The events of the war might compel him to occupy 
Constantinople temporarily, but he had no intention 
to take permanent possession of it. He had no de- 
sire or intention to interfere with any of the British 
interests in the Mediterranean or in India. The 
war was waged to provide a good government for 
the Christians in Turkey, and he should insist on a 
treaty which accomplished this purpose. 

The British cabinet sent back by Colonel Welles- 
ley a memorandum in which they stated that " they 
received with satisfaction the statement made by 
His Majesty as to the object of the war in which he 
was engaged, his disclaimer of any extensive ideas 
of annexation, and his readiness to enter into nego- 
tiations for peace. They are grateful for the assur- 
ance which he has given of his intention to respect 
the interests of England." The cabinet raised no 
objection whatever to any of the terms and con- 
ditions of peace stated in Prince Gortschakoff's 
dispatch of June, or Colonel Wellesley's memoran- 
dum of August. Yet the Treaty of San Stefano 
was framed on these very terms and conditions, not 
one of which it violated ; and when this treaty 



The Eastern Question. 



313 



was made England prepared for war. Why did the 
cabinet take such different action on the same pro- 
positions? In all probability because, at the date 
of their answer to the Wellesley memorandum (Au- 
gust 14), Russia had just received her second great 
defeat at Plevna, and the war had come to a stand- 
still pending the arrival of re-enforcements. Lord 
Beaconsfield shared the delusion then current with 
his party, that Russia would gain no substantial 
success over the Turks, and would never have the 
opportunity of dictating the terms which the Empe- 
ror suggested. 

The war then took its course. The Turkish re- 
sistance proved to be greater than had been antici- 
pated, and it had the effect of storing up the force 
of the Russian invasion, which broke forth with re- 
sistless momentum on the fall of Plevna. At the 
end of January, 1878, the Russian armies were at 
the gates of Constantinople, and Turkey lay, for the 
moment, helpless at their feet. England imme- 
diately ordered her fleet to proceed to Constanti- 
nople, without regard to any protest of the Turks 
based upon treaty stipulations in regard to the navi- 
gation of the Straits. She also began to make 
other preparations to be prepared for any emer- 
gency. 

The Russians at once set to work to negotiate a 
preliminary treaty directly with the Turks. It was, 
14 



Army Life in Russia. 



perhaps, an unwise step, for no settlement, tempo- 
rary or permanent, of the Eastern question can 
be made without the full consent of all the Great 
Powers. Perhaps it would have been better to call 
a general Congress at once, say that Russia had 
conquered from the Turks all that the Constanti- 
nople Conference had demanded, and then ask 
the Great Powers to put the propositions of this 
Conference forthwith into effect. But, on the other 
hand, it must be remembered that Russia had had a 
painful experience of the fruitlessness of confer- 
ences and diplomatic proceedings generally, and 
now too much blood and treasure had been ex- 
pended to allow any risks to be run of their objects 
being defeated. Acting on this idea, Russia deter- 
mined to first obtain the consent of the Turks, by 
means of a preliminary treaty, to new forms of gov- 
ernment for the conquered provinces, and then to 
submit this to a future Congress as an accomplished 
fact, to be modified in its details, if necessary. 

The bases of peace were agreed to before hos- 
tilities were suspended. They were — 

I. Bulgaria, within limits not less than those indi- 
cated by the Conference, to become a self-govern- 
ing tributary principality, with a Christian governor 
and a native militia. The Ottoman troops to no 
longer remain in it, and the Danubian fortresses to 
be destroyed. 



The Eastern Question. 



315 



2. Montenegro to be acknowledged independent, 
and receive an increase of territory. 

3. Roumania and Servia to become independent, 
and to receive territorial indemnity. 

4. Bosnia and Herzegovnia to be "endowed with 
an autonomous administration and sufficient gua- 
ranties." 

5. Turkey to pay Russia for the expenses of the 
war, either in money or territory. 

The Treaty of San Stefano was framed on this basis. 
It increased by a few hundred square miles those lim- 
its of Bulgaria which had been indicated by the Con- 
ference. The former limits had followed an irregu- 
lar line about forty miles distant from the shores of 
the ^Egean ; the new limits gave the principality an 
outlet to the sea at Salonica, and along the coast for 
about sixty miles east of the Chalcidean peninsula. 

It made Roumania completely independent, took 
back the small piece of Bessarabia which had been 
awarded to it by the Treaty of Paris, and gave in ex- 
change a larger territory in the Dobrudja. 

To Servia were given independence and a slight 
increase in territory. 

In Bosnia and Herzegovnia were to be introduced 
those measures of reform which had been formu- 
lated at the first meeting of the Conference, subject 
to any changes that might be made by Austria, Rus- 
sia, and Turkey in common. 



316 



Army Life in Russia. 



The war indemnity was fixed at a little more than 
a thousand millions of dollars ; but of this the ter- 
ritory in Bessarabia and the fortresses of Batoum, 
Kars, Ardahan, etc., in Asia, were valued at seven 
hundred and fifty millions, leaving two hundred and 
fifty millions to be paid in cash, the details of the 
payment to be subsequently arranged. 

The Russians were to use the ports of the Black 
Sea and the Sea of Marmora to embark their troops, 
and the evacuation of Turkey was to commence at 
once, and be concluded within six months after the 
signature of a definite treaty of peace. 

Such was the Treaty of San Stefano, signed on the 
3d of March, 1878. 

Before the treaty was signed Austria had already 
taken the lead in proposing a general Conference for 
the consideration of Eastern affairs ; to this Russia 
and other Powers acceded. But on the signature of 
the treaty England proposed additional conditions on 
which alone she would enter the Conference ; these 
were, that the treaty should be submitted entire to 
the Conference in order that it might judge what 
portions of it were of general concern .and should be 
subject to modification. To this Russia replied, 
that there were no secret articles to the treaty ; that 
the whole of it had been furnished to each of the 
Powers, and that each of them might raise any dis- 
cussion that it chose ; but Russia must decline to ac- 



The Eastern Question. 



317 



cept the discussion if it was not upon a matter of Eu- 
ropean interest. This answer was not satisfactory to 
England, and after considerable correspondence had 
passed on the subject, all hope of the meeting of 
the Conference was abandoned. England then called 
out her reserves, and there seemed every prospect 
of war. Lord Derby, who had so long tried to main- 
tain the status quo by neither helping the Turks nor 
coercing them, now resigned. He was succeeded by 
Lord Salisbury, and on the 1st of April the latter 
sent out his famous circular dispatch to the Powers, 
announcing the position of England. 

This dispatch rehearsed the argument, the practi- 
cal importance of which it was hard for any but 
Englishmen to comprehend, about Russia submitting 
the entire treaty to the Conference, and then pro- 
ceeded to criticise the whole bearing and intent of 
the San Stefano treaty. In Lord Salisbury's opin- 
ion, this treaty created " a strong Slav state under 
the auspices and control of Russia, possessing im- 
portant harbors on the Black Sea and the Archi- 
pelago, and conferring upon that Power a prepon- 
derating influence over both political and commercial 
relations in those seas. . . ." This state would 
be " subjected to a ruler whom Russia will practi- 
cally choose, its administration framed by a Russian 
commissary, and the first working of its institu- 
tions commenced under the control of a Russian ar- 



3i8 



Army Life in Russia. 



my. . . ." Finally, " the general effect of this portion 
of the treaty will be to increase the power of the Rus- 
sian Empire in the countries and on the shores where 
a Greek population dominates, not only to the preju- 
dice of that nation, but also of every country having 
interests in the east of the Mediterranean Sea. M As 
the Treaty of San Stefano had prescribed that the 
Prince of Bulgaria should be freely elected by the 
population and confirmed by the Porte, with the con- 
sent of the Great Powers, and that he should not be- 
long to any of the ruling dynasties, it is hard to 
understand how he would be a " ruler whom Rus- 
sia would practically choose." As for the size of 
Bulgaria, it was but slightly larger than that pro- 
posed by Lord Salisbury himself and the other 
members of the Conference ; at that time he was as 
well aware as now of the number of Greeks inhabit- 
ing it. How Russia was to derive any more advan- 
tage from the small and poor harbors of ,the new 
principality in the yEgean than she had derived 
from the numerous ports of Greece which had been 
freed by her arms in 1829, was not explained; but 
even if she did, it required a most ardent prejudice 
to explain how Russia, by having a few harbors in 
the eastern end of the Mediterranean, was to be in- 
imical to the interests of every other nation, any 
more than France, Italy, and Austria, which had 
abundant and good harbors on the same sea or its 



I 



The Eastern Question. 



319 



tributaries, and were possessed of stronger navies 
and greater naval aptitude than Russia. 

The argument on all these points was by no means 
conclusive, and Lord Salisbury's position was singu- 
larly opposed to that which he had maintained at 
the Conference. 

In view of this defiant and unreasonable attitude 
of England, Russia at once proceeded to send Gen- 
eral Ignatieff to sound the intentions of Austria. 
For England single-handed she had no fears what- 
ever. With great effort England could land ninety 
thousand raw troops at Gallipoli, to oppose the three 
hundred thousand veterans which Russia had south 
of the Balkans ; the Russian ports could be protect- 
ed by torpedoes against England's fleet, which 
could land but a few thousand marines at Constan- 
tinople. Russia could fit out cruisers to prey on 
English commerce, and could stir up insurrection in 
India. So long as her land communications were 
safe, Russia cared nothing for the navigation of the 
Black Sea, which had already been closed to her by 
the Turkish fleet. 

These views were shared by all the Russian gen- 
erals. But if Austria was to enter on the scene, the 
whole condition of affairs would be changed. A 
glance at the map will explain this at once. From 
the Carpathians to the Black Sea the distance is 
but one hundred and twenty miles. Through this 



320 



Army Life in Russia. 



narrow gap came all the supplies for the Russian 
army. Should the Austrian army, which was to be 
supported by English money, block this passage, 
and the English fleet occupy the Black Sea, Russia's 
position in Turkey was a checkmate ; which could 
only be broken by crushing the Austrian army. To 
attempt to fight the Turks at Constantinople, the 
English at Gallipoli, and the Austrians in Bessara- 
bia, would require sacrifices of the most onerous 
character. 

The nature of the negotiations between General 
Ignatieff and the Austrian government has never 
been made public ; but they undoubtedly ended in 
failure. Austria, as in the Crimean War, seized the 
diplomatic opportunity and used her strategic posi- 
tion to the utmost advantage. She declined to 
make any terms with Russia, and General Ignatieff 
returned without success. It was at once evident 
that Russia must make certain concessions or at- 
tempt the task of opposing a most formidable coa- 
lition in behalf of interests which were only remote- 
ly her own. 

Under these circumstances Count Shouvaloff was 
summoned to St. Petersburg by the Emperor, and 
on his return to London he made a secret agree- 
ment with Lord Salisbury, specifying the conditions 
under which Russia would enter a Conference, the 
project of which had been revived by Germany. 



The Eastern Question, 321 



The essence of this agreement was that Bulgaria 
should not extend to the ^Egean ; that it should be 
divided into two provinces, separated by the Bal- 
kans — the northern one to be a tributary principality, 
and the southern one to have a large measure of 
self-government, and no Turkish troops to be sta- 
tioned in it ; the war indemnity not to be converted 
into territorial cession, but Russia to insist on the 
return of the portion of Bessarabia and the acquisi- 
tion of certain territory in Asia. 

With this understanding the Powers convened in 
Congress on the 13th of June, 1878. The treaty 
which they signed just one month later, confirmed 
the provisions of this secret agreement, and added a 
provision that Austria should occupy and adminis- 
ter Bosnia and Herzegovnia. No term was fixed 
for this occupation, and it will in all probability be 
permanent. Thus Austria, which had taken no part 
in the war, was the only Great Power that received 
any considerable territory in Europe as the result 
of it. She resumed her ancient position as the leg- 
atee of the territory which the Turk was unable to 
hold and defend. 

Before the treaty was signed or the Congress had 
met, England had concluded a secret alliance with 
Turkey by which she guaranteed to defend the 
Sultan's Asiatic possessions against further en- 
croachments by Russia, provided he ceded to her 
14* 



322 Army Life in Russia, 

the island of Cyprus as a base for her opera- 
tions. 

Though Russia lost nothing personally by the 
Treaty of Berlin, yet it was undoubtedly a heavy 
blow to her pride, in that she had been obliged by 
Europe to renounce the settlement which she had 
first made, in favor of one much less advantageous 
to the suffering people on whose behalf she had 
undertaken the war. Her own settlement contained 
far more elements of stability than that which Eu- 
rope dictated, for nothing could be so fruitful of 
future dissensions and insurrections as the division 
of the lands occupied by the Bulgarians into two 
provinces, one of which enjoys a complete govern- 
ment of its own, and the other — as Lord Salisbury 
proudly boasted — is restored to the " direct military 
and political authority of the Sultan." Nothing 
could be more illusory than the theory that the 
Balkans form a strong line of military defense, 
which was the central feature of Lord Beaconsfield's 
arguments in the Congress. Nothing is so opposed 
to the teachings of history as the idea that Russia's 
influence with the subject races in the Balkan Pen- 
insula would be diminished by the obstructions and 
restrictions which England offers to the freedom 
which these races have gained or aspire to. 

On the conclusion of the Treaty of Berlin, many 
Englishmen cried out with joy — as they had in 1856 



The Eastern Question. 



323 



— that the Eastern question was now finally settled. 
It has required but two short years to prove to 
every one how far this is from being true. The 
boundary of Greece is still undefined, the boundary 
of Montenegro the same ; not a step has been taken 
toward reforming the government in Armenia, and 
Cyprus turns out to be too unhealthy for British 
troops to inhabit it. Realizing how completely they 
have been deceived by the showy but unsubstantial 
foreign policy of Lord Beaconsfield's government, 
the British public has lately overturned it in the 
most complete manner. 

But the Treaty of Berlin has this great advantage 
over the Treaty of Paris, that it is a step in advance 
and not in retreat. It says no word about the " in- 
tegrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire," 
and it sanctions the diminution of that empire in 
favor of self-governing Christian states. That its 
settlement is only a temporary one, there is no 
doubt. The Turkish government is bankrupt, its 
officials, civil and military, are unpaid, the respect 
for, its authority is everywhere diminishing, its de- 
crepitude is rapidly increasing, and it has not the 
means of introducing reforms even if it had the will. 
Its dissolution is near at hand. Will England still 
try to galvanize its lifeless members and to prop it 
up, or will it come to terms with its neighbors and 
arrange for its exit ? 



324 Army Life in Russia. 

Such is the Eastern question — the question whe- 
ther the Turk shall live in Europe and misgovern 
Christian subjects ; whether the teachings of the Ko- 
ran or of the Bible shall have the ascendancy in 
Southeastern Europe. For five hundred and 
twenty-four years the Turk has occupied some 
of the fairest lands known to man — lands which in 
times past have been the seat of the first nations 
of the earth, and whose mineral and agricultural 
wealth, wonderful climate, and geographical situa- 
tion would make them to-day the rivals in pros- 
perity, wealth, and happiness, of any country in Eu- 
rope, were they fairly governed. How has the Turk 
administered this rich heritage ? Save a few of the 
earlier Sultans, who were possessed of strong charac- 
ters and military skill, in these five hundred years 
Turkey has produced no great man ; in art and in 
science Turkish history is an absolute blank, and its 
literature consists of little but dissertations on the 
Koran. The wonderful mechanical genius which 
during this century has so aided the development 
of wealth and of material prosperity and happiness 
throughout the civilized world, has never been al- 
lowed to enter Turkey. Its lands are tilled as they 
were two thousand years ago, its mines are un- 
opened, and its highways of communication are 
such as were left by the Roman conquerors. You 
may search as you please through the records 



The Eastern Question. 



325 



of these five hundred years, and you will find no 
evidence of the slightest advance in civilization. It 
is only a barren and sickening tale of wars and op- 
pression and misrule, of grinding extortion and bar- 
barous massacre, of personal corruption and the 
grossest immorality. 

How to remedy this without allowing all the 
benefits to accrue to one nation, is the problem 
which now faces Europe, as it has for more than a 
century past. It is a problem of stupendous magni- 
tude — the problem above all others of international 
politics in Europe. It involves every great nation 
in the world, save only ourselves, and absorbs the 
unceasing attention of the greatest minds in those 
nations. That it will end in the expulsion of the 
Turk from Europe at no distant day, may be confi- 
dently asserted, but, further than this, it is hazard- 
ous to attempt to predict the details of the solution. 
Certain fundamental principles, however, which 
have now been proved beyond a doubt, must form 
the basis of any permanent settlement ; and the 
most essential of these are, first, that the existing 
Ottoman government is incapable of introducing 
reforms in the government of its subject races ; and, 
second, that it is impossible for it to permanently 
maintain its existence either with or without foreign 
aid. The principles of the Treaty of Paris have 
been shown to be utterly untenable, and must be 



326 



Army Life in Russia. 



abandoned in favor of something more in accord- 
ance with facts and justice. In short, the status 
quo, which England has striven to maintain for so 
many years, has now proved itself an impossibility, 
and it is imperatively necessary to provide a substi- 
tute. Will England frankly join the other Great 
Powers in endeavoring to provide a substitute ; will 
the Powers be able to agree, even if England joins 
them, or will the Ottoman government make its 
exit in the midst of a convulsion brought about by 
new rebellions of its own subjects? The time for 
the final solution of this long-pending Eastern ques- 
tion seems now to be at hand, but no man can tell 
how the solution will be made. 



THE END. 



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From the London Times, 

" Mr. Schuyler will be ranked among the most accomplished of living travelers. 
Many parts of his book will be found of interest, even by the most exacting of genera* 
readers; and, as a whole, it is incomparably the most valuable record of Central Asia 
which has been published in this country." 

From the N. Y. Evening Post. 

"The author's chief aim appears to have been to do all that he says he tried to do, 
and to do greatly more beside — namely, to study everything there was to study in the 
countries which he visited, and to tell the world all about it in a most interesting way. 
He is, indeed, a model traveler, and he has written a model book of travels, in which 
every line is interesting, and from which nothing that any reader can want to hear aboul 
has been excluded.'' 

Mr. Gladstone in the "Contemporary Review" 

"One of the most solid and painstaking works which have been published among u» 
in recent years." 

From the New York Times. 
"Its descriptions of the country and of the people living in it are always interesting 
and frequently amusing ; but it is easy to see that they have been written by one who is 
not only so thoroughly cosmopolitan as to know intuitively what is worth telling and wha( 
had better be omitted, but who is, also, so practiced a writer as to understand precisel) 
how to set forth what he has to say in the most effective manner." 

From the Atlantic Monthly. 
"Undoubtedly the most thoroughly brilliant and entertaining work on TurkUtar 
which has yet been given to the English-speaking world." 

From the Independent. 
"It is fortunate that a record of the sort appears at this time, and doubly fortunate 
that it comes from the hand of so wise, well-informed, and industrious a traveler and 
diplomat." 

From the New York World. 
"It3 author has the eye and pen of a journalist, and sees at once what is woiih 
■eeing, and recites his impressions in the most graphic manner. 1 ' 

Two vols. 8vo. With three Maps, and numerous Illustrations, 
attractively bound in cloth, price reduced from $7.50 to $5. 

*»* The above book for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent, post or express 
charges paid, upon receipt of the price by tlie publishers, 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 

743 and 745 Broadway, New York. 



The Authorized Edition. Tivo Vols, in One. 



The most Famous Book of the Day. 



jBismflPtfc 

IN THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR, 
AN AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN 

OF 

Dr. MORITZ BUSCH. 



Two Vols, in One, black and gold, $1.50 



American readers now have an opportunity to make 
acquaintance with the most widely-discussed book of the 
day, and those whose expectation has been aroused by the 
reviews and correspondents will be able fully to understand 
the excitement it has called forth in Europe. 

Covering the whole period of the war, the book gives 
an account — as vivid as only the smallest details can make 
it— of Bismarck's daily life, habits, and methods of work , 
his comments on everything and every one about him ; his 
opinions, epigrams, and smallest table-talk. 



"It is a ravishing book, we have said, and one who takes it up does not lay it 
doitm again until he has read its last page, and has turned back to read again *nA 
again some of its most entertaining paragraphs. It is a wonderful book, too, con- 
sidered merely as a piece of faithful reporting. — N. V. EVENING POST. 

"The publication of Bismarck's after-dinner talk, whether discreet or not, will 
be of priceless biographical value, and Englishmen, at least, will not be disposed to 
quarrel with Dr. Busch for giving a picture as true to life as BoswelPs 1 Johnson ' 
of the foremost practical genius that Germany has produced since Frederick the 
Greats— LONDON TIMES. 

"Nobody can understand the political history of the Franco-German war, nor 
the man Bismarck, its chiej maker, who has not read the diary of the Reichskanzler 3 s 
Boswell. .... The English version is far more readable than the German." 
—L ONDON A THEN/EUM. 



*** The above book for sale by all booksellers, or will be sen/, prepaid, %p*m 
receipt of price, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 

743 and 745 Broadway, New York, 



The Standard Edition of Gladstone's Essays. 



(Jlpanings of JPast jgpars, 

BY 

The Right Hon. W. E. GLADSTONE. 



Seveyi Volumes, 16mo, Cloth, per volume, $1.00. 



The extraordinary scope of Mr. Gladstone's learning — the -wonder of 
his friends and enemies alike — and his firm grasp of every subject he 
discusses, make his essays much more than transient literature. Their 
collection and publication in permanent shape were of course certain to 
be undertaken sooner or later ; and now that they are so published with 
the benefit of his own revision, they will need little heralding in England 
or America. 

What Mr. Gladstone has written in the last thirty-six years — the period 
covered by this collection — has probably had the attention of as large an 
English-speaking public as any writer on political and social topics ever 
reached in his own life-time. The papers which he has chosen as of 
lasting value, and included here under the title of Gleanings of Past 
Years, will form the standard edition of his miscellanies, both for his 
present multitude of readers, and for those who will study his writings 
later. 



Vol. I. The Throne, and the Prince Consort; 

The Cabinet, and Constitution. 

Vol. II.— Personal and Literary. 

Vol. III.— Historical and Speculative. 

Vol. IV.— Foreign. 

Vol V ) 

.' r Ecclesiastical. 
Vol. VI. ) 

Vol. VII.— Miscellaneous. 

***The above books for sale by all booksellers, or wUl be sent, prepaid, upon, 
receipt of price, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SOXS. Publishers, 

743 and 745 Broadway, New York. 



"A book abounding: in matter of solid Interest."— London Spectator. 



?§>\t (|o&prnmFnf of JDD}. %i$\m< 

By JULES SIMON. 

Translated from the French. 

Two vols. 8vo, $4.50. 

The importance of this book among the materials for the history of the 
lime is at once self-evident, and can hardly be exaggerated. Simon's part 
in the most intense action of the period he describes, his intimate relations 
with Thiers himself, and his position in the Republican party of France, 
unite to give a worth to his narrative such as could hardly attach to that of 
any other eye-witness of these events. Such records, by men writing of 
matters in the very crisis of their own activity, generally have to wait for 
the future historian to put them into their lasting form, and give them their 
greatest interest as parts of the whole story. But the most remarkable fea- 
ture of M. Simon's book is that it does not need this treatment, and is not 
so much a personal memoir — a contribution to history — as a completed pic- 
ture of the period. There is a justice of proportion and truth of historical 
perspective about it that is very unusual in the work of one recording the 
politics of his own day. Parts are not unduly magnified because they were 
subjects of the author's special personal observation and interest ; but the 
relative weight of different events is as carefully given as though by a philo- 
sophical looker-on rather than an actor. There is a strong probability that 
a century hence the book will still be looked upon as among the first 
authorities, in impartiality and full appreciation of the time it treats. 

Simon's pen-pictures of contemporaries — even of adversaries — are very 
striking, in the fact that they are generally just without losing any of their 
vigor. They are as interesting from another point of view — if not as 
" ruthless "—as those of the great German chancellor, whose comments on 
I he characters of those engaged in the same scenes are often supplemented 
by these sketches. The future historian of the last ten years can hardly 
complain that he lacks knowledge of their leading men, when he has at hand 
this history and Dr. Busch's memoirs of Prince Bismarck. 



From the "London Spectator." 
*' The special interest connected with these volumes is to be found in striking and vivid 
notices scattered through them of points which only one intimately connected with the 
transactions under review could have known. With the single exception of M. Barthd- 
Iemy St. Hilaire, no person was so closely associated with M. Thiers during the course of 
his administration as Jules Simon. * * * * The various chapters are devoted to so 
hany episodes — many of them stirring episodes — that are told with striking force. 
iourse the spir:t of the narrative is strongly biased, but it cannot be said that M. Jules 
Simon writes with want of candour. * * * * The history of the constant and patient 
struggle of M. 1'hiers against turbulent and factious combinations, though cot un're- 
quently attended by sallies on his own part of seeming impatience and querulousncss. is 
narrated in graphic chapters. Two especially must command attention — those in which 
M. Simon tells the tale of the Commune and of the negotiations which INI. Thiers carried 
on with so much skill and pertinacity for the liberation of France from the invader at a 
term earlier than that fixed by the original treaty." 



%* The above book for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent, prepaid, u/om 
rtctipt of frice, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 

743 and 745 Broadway, New York. 



"Two as interesting and valuable books of travel as have 
been published in this country." New York Express. 



Dr. Field's Travels Mound the World. 

i. 

from the lakes of killarney to the 

G OLDEN HOR N. 
II. 

FROM EGYPT TO JAPAN. 



By HENRY M. FIELD, D.D., Editor of the N. Y. Evangelist. 
Each 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth, gilt top, uniform in sty'e, $2. 



CRITICAL NOTICES. 
By George Ripley, L.L.D., in the New York Tribune. 

Few recent travellers combine so many qualities that are adapted to command the 
Interest and sympathy of the public. While he indulges, to its fullest extent, the charac- 
teristic American curiosity with regard to foreign lands, insisting on seeing every object 
of interest with his own eyes, shrinking from no peril or difficulty in pursuit of infor- 
mation — climbing mountains, descending mines, exploring pyramids, with no sense of 
satiety or weariness, he has also made a faithful study of the highest authorities on 
the different subjects of his narrative, thus giving solidity and depth to his descriptions, 
without sacrificing their facility or grace. 

From the New York Observer. 

The present volume comprises by far the most novel, romantic, and interesting part 
of the Journey [Round the World], and the story of it is told and the scenes are painted 
by the hand of a master of the pen. Dr. Field is a veteran traveller ; he knows well 
what to see, and (which is still more important to the reader) he knows well what to 
describe and how to do it. 

By Chas. Dudley Warner, in the Hartford Couraat. 

It is thoroughly entertaining; the reader's interest is never allowed to flag; the 
author carries us forward from land to land with uncommon vivacity, enlivens the way 
with a good humor, a careful observation, and treats all peoples with a refreshing liberality. 

From Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs. 

It is indeed a charming book — full of fresh information, picturesque description, and 
thoughtful studies of men, countries, and civilizations. 

From Prof. Roswell D. Hitchcock, D.D. 

In this second volume, Dr. Field, I think, has surpassed himself in the first, ai.d 
this is saying a good deal. In both volumes the editorial instinct and habit are conspic- 
uous. Dr. Prime has said that an editor should have six senses, the sixth being 
M a sense of the interesting." Dr. Field has this to perfection. * * * 

From the New York Herald. 

It would be impossible by extracts to convey an adequate idea of the variety, 
abundance, or picturesque freshness of these sketches of travel, without copying a great 
part of the book. 

Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D.D., in the Christian at Work. 

Dr. Field has an eye, if we may use a photographic illustration, with a great deal of 
collodion in it, so that he sees very clearly. He knows also how to describe just those 
things in the different places visited by him which an intelligent man wants to know 
about 



*#* The above books for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent, post or express 
charges paid^ upon receipt of the price by the publishers. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 

743 and 745 Broadway, New York. 



A FASCINATING BOOK. 



JPpinrF JBismarrlTs HfHffs 

TO 

His Sister, Wife, and Others, 

From 1844 to 1870. 
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, 

By FITZH. MAXSE. 

QiM Vol. 16mo, cloth, $1.00 



These select letters of Prince Bismarck, which have been collected, 
translated, and published with his express consent, illustrate, and perhaps 
as forcibly as ever before, the wide separation there may be between the 
public and private life of a great statesman. No matter how familiar the 
reader may be with Bismarck's political career, this volume will contain 
for him a revelation as remarkable as it is intensely interesting. For in. 
them we see not the diplomatist but the man. 



From the "New-York Evening Post** 

"The careful reader will see on nearly every page some sentence which reveals the 
character of this remarkable man as it has never been revealed in his public acts or 
words." 

From the "Boston Transcript.** 

M Even the most confirmed Bismarck-hater cannot help feeling his prejudices 
sotter.ed, and his respect for this wonderful man increased in reading these revelations 
of his inner Ufa. The work which contains them will have the effect of changing in no 
sma'l decree the popular estimate of his character in this country, and will form an 
important volume in autobiographic literature." 

From the "Nation." 

"The impression conveyed throughout these letters is that Bismarck, In respect to 
his political life, is a Diogenes, who, in an hour of weakness, has been persuaded out oi 
his tub, and who regrets the emergence as an error. But in its humor, its melancholy, 
its self-consciousness, Bismarck's is a thoroughly modern mind ; in his lack of intel- 
lectual subtilty, and in his downright religious convictions, he is less evidently of our 
time, orthodoxy being now in Germany, for the most part — at least among the Ho/welt — 
an anachronism. * * * Complete vigor and genuineness of nature, combined with 
rare patience and good humor, rather than a profound insight, have given Prince von 
Bismarck his position in European affairs. These letters alone are enough to show 
that their writer was never destined to an inferior place. 



* # * The above book for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent, prepaid, upon 
Yecei+t of jrrice, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 

743 and 745 Broadway, New York. 



AN INVALUABLE ADDITION TO ARCH/EOLOGICAL D SCOVERY. 

DR. SCHLIEMANN'S GREAT WORK. 

DISCOVERIES AND RESEARCHES 

ON THE SITES OF 
ANCIENT MYCEN/E AND TIRYNS. 

By DR. HENRY SCHLIEMANN, Author of " Troy and its Remains." 

With Preface by the Hon. W. E. Gladstone. 

With Maps, Colored Plates, Views and Cuts, representing several Hundred 
Objects of Antiquity discovered on the Sites. 

[IN ALL, FIVE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS.] 
CRITICAL NOTICES. 



" Tn this magnificent volume we have 
finally the story of Dr. Schliemann's last 
and most impjrtant discoveries. He has 
been the most fortunate of archaeological 
explorers ; for even a grea ter luck than 
rewarded him in the Troad has fallen to 
his portion in Argolis. * * * We sus- 
pect that the final verdict of scholars will 
be that Dr. Schliemann has actually dis- 
covered the remains of the man, some part 
of whose history, at least, is preserved in 
the Agamemnon of Homer and ^Eschylus." 
— The N. Y. Tribune. 

" Dr. Schl'emann's book is worth all the 
prolegomens and commentaries upon Ho- 
mer that have been written since the re- 
vival of learning." — The Boston Globe. 

M The interest of the work is not confined 
to either England or America. Every en- 
lightened nation will welcome it, for it opens 
up a new world to the modern generation. 
No work of the time has attracted wider 
attention." — Boston Post. 



" This splendid volume is a museum o( 
itself which every lover of history and 
classical literature will feel that he must 
possess, and which any intelligent reader 
is competent to understand and enjoy by 
means of its abundant and truly splendid 
illustrations." — Buffalo Commercial Ad- 
vertiser. 

" Dr. Schliemann has made the most 
important contribution of the present cen- 
tury to Greek archaeology." — The Nation. 

" We commend the volume, with its ad- 
mirable typography and multitu iinous il- 
lustrations, to the attention of our readers, 
assuring them that they will find it posses- 
sed of a rare and enduring interest." — 
Boston Journal. 

" We add our testimony in saying that a 
copy of Mycenae is necessary to the library 
of every scholar, and — which is no mean 
praise — that the printing and illustrations 
of this wo k are worthy of the matter." — 
Baltimore Gazette. 



One vol. quarto, superbly printed on superfine paper, cloth extra, $12.00. 



%* TJte above books for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent, post or express 
tkzrges paid, upon, receipt of the price by the publishers, 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 

743 and 745 Broadway, New York. 



"The world has waited for this publication, and now that it has appeared, it 
will be diligently read by all men." 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

PRINCE METTERNICH. 

Edited by his Son, Prince Metternich. Translated by Robina Napier. 
With a minute index prepared especially /or this edition. 

2 vols., 8vo. With Portrait and Fac-similes - - $5.00. 



For twenty years— since it became known at his death that the great diplomatist 
of the Napoleonic period had left his memoirs — the publication of this book has been 
looked for with such interest as perhaps no other personal revelations could have 
aroused. Prince Metternich's own directions kept it back during this time; and this 
fact, with the complete secresy preserved as to the contents of the manuscript, rightly 
led to the belief that he had treated the events and persons of his day with an un- 
sparing candor. 

The simultaneous publication of the memoirs in Germany, France, England and 
America is therefore something more than a literary event. Metternich alone held the 
keys of the most secret history of the 'most important epoch in modern times, and in 
this book he gives them up — an impossibility during his life. Even to especial students, 
who know what problems these disclosures have been expected to solve, the value of 
what they open will be as surprising as the extraordinary care with which they have 
been guarded. 

The announcement alone is of sufficient interest, that we are at last in possession 
of the autobiography ot the statesman who from the French Revolution to Waterloo, 
took pai t in the making of nearly every great treaty, and was himself the negotiator 
of the greatest ; and who from 1806 to 1815, was the guiding mind of the vast combin- 
ations which defeated Napoleon and) decided the form of modern Europe. 



EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS OF THE METTERNICH 
MEMOIRS. 

" The great chancellor writes with an exceedingly easy pen. It is indeed inter- 
esting to follow his narration, so clear that one never loses the thread of his story, and 
so graphic that we get a glimpse of the scenes as with our own eyes. The work is 
intensely interesting to read, and of the greatest value to the historical student."— 
^V. Y. Independent. 

"Of the great value of the work we have already spoken. It not only "enables 
the world for the first time to understand clearly the objects for which Prince Metter- 
nich contended throughout his long public life, but casts fresh light on some of the 
most obscure historical incidents of his day.'* — The Atheneeum. 

" The Memoirs of Metternich are "to be heartily welcomed Dy all who are inter- 
ested either in the serious facts or the lighter gossip of history. There is no period, 
indeed, in recent history, more important or attractive than that covered by the first 
volume of these memoirs." — Boston Literary World. 



* s * For sale by all booksellers, or will be sent, prepaid, upon 
receipt of price, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 

743 and 745 Broadway, New York. 



